Love Stories Have Never Been So Complicated
by NarutoKyuu
Summary: Their friendship had never been overly complicated. Everything was kept relatively simple. It was all about to get a lot more complicated because of one little comment. Forget triangles, this is a whole new disaster.
1. Complications Arise

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

Their friendship had never been overly complicated. Everything was kept relatively simple. Three were old friends from high school; two were newly met and easily befriended. Four attended the same college; one had ended up at a different one. So the five, although seemingly mismatched at first, had become good friends.

It was all about to get a lot more complicated because of one little comment:

"Doesn't Marth seem to act differently when he's talking to Roy?"

Ike, who had been leaning on the two back legs of his chair, legs propped up on the table, had pushed too hard in shock and fallen backwards.

Link, who had been trying to enjoy a nice coffee, nearly choked as the liquid went down the wrong way.

Now Marth, who had been talking on his cell phone with Roy, nearly dropped said device when Link started choking and gave the blond a few hearty thumps on the back.

"Uh…Did I…say something strange…?" Pit asked cautiously, eyes wide.

Ike, who had propped himself back up on the chair, legs on the table, said, "There's a lot of ways to interpret what you just said." After a slight pause of realizing that Link was still recovering and that Marth was still on the phone, he continued. "And the first implication everyone would jump to is that you're trying to say that Marth romantically likes Roy."

Marth abruptly stood up, a slight pink dusting his cheeks and walked away.

Pit, eyes still wide, said, "Did it really come out that way?"

Just then, Ike saw under that innocent look. He closed his eyes in feigned irritation, crossed his arms, and said, "Those are lovely horns under your halo."

Pit grinned. "Why thank you."

"So why bring it up?" Link asked quietly, throat still burning.

Pit shrugged, sipping his iced tea through a straw. "I was just wondering if you guys noticed it too."

"Possibly…" They said at the same time.

Pit started to feel like he had just entered a war zone. They'd never really talked about this romance business, as there was some silent agreement between them. Pit never really wanted to talk about it either, ever since he had discovered that he had a crush on Ike. It would've just been downright awkward, but really now, he was curious. It wasn't as if Marth was trying to disguise his bliss as he talked to Roy. And good god it seemed like he spoke to Roy almost constantly, whether it was in person, over phone, texting, or instant messaging. It made him wonder. But asking right now, it seemed like there was more than one person who had feelings for Marth. That made things even worse.

This was all very confusing and it made him regret ever opening his fat mouth.

Focusing back on the two in front of him, he noticed that they were currently in a glare battle to the death.  
Now he was really starting to regret it.

"Uhm…guys…forget I said anything, okay?"

They sighed, and Link, the ever gracious one, was the first to turn away.

"Alright."

.:~:.

Marth came back not soon after, surprisingly not very bothered, and unsurprisingly with his head in the clouds.

Pit could slightly see Ike's mouth twitch down in annoyance, and he could feel the bottom of his own stomach drop out. If he had any doubts about Ike not liking him back before, they were almost insignificant to this smack in the face sitting right in front of him.

"Well, umm…" Marth cut into the awkward silence with an even more awkward statement, "I'm, gonna…get to class now." And with that he quickly made his escape from the little café.

It was minutes before Link said, "…But he doesn't have any classes today."

Pit and Ike just stared at him before it hit them as well. Like a speeding tanker truck.

Then Pit made his second mistake of the day. "But then where did he go?"

It was so quiet, had there been crickets, they wouldn't have even been chirping. Pit then realized he should just suture his mouth shut. It would be better for all of them. He was getting the scary feeling that over the next few days (weeks? months?) their friendship would be tested to the limits…Crap.

He desperately wanted to leave this awkward and deadly atmosphere and head for the hills, but he felt like it was his duty to make sure these two didn't maul each other. Then he glanced at his watch. Oh damn. "Ike, we're three minutes late for history!" He jumped up and grabbed the taller man's arm and dragged him towards the classroom, forcibly making him forfeit the silent battle with Link. Oh well.

.:~:.

The atmosphere in the classroom wasn't all that better. It felt stuffy and suffocating and Pit could barley concentrate on the board up front. They had managed to grab seats in the far back corner, but Ike had turned to stone. He felt like he was being given the cold shoulder and it actually kind of hurt. He liked the guy. He wanted him to like him back. But no, he had to go and like someone who already liked someone else. Romance was complicated. They'd all end up hurt in the end.

Although, somewhere in the back of his mind, some little devil or something was saying _But if he's hurt by Marth, then maybe he'll eventually warm up to you_.

Pit immediately shook the idea from his mind. Not only was it wrong, it was desperate and mean and stupid and downright preposterous.

He'd really dug his own grave this time. Maybe he should just tape his mouth shut now, to avoid saying anything stupid.

"Pit, what _are_ you doing?"

Hand pausing in getting the tape, Pit stared at Ike. Then he glanced at his hands. He had not been aware that he had actually been reaching for his Scotch tape.

"Uhm…taping my mouth shut?"

"_Why_?"

"So I don't say anything stupid again."

Ike shook his head and took the tape away from him. "Don't do that."

"Why?" He was honestly curious. There was just the strange way he said it that made him wonder.

"Uh…" A very faint pink dusted his cheeks. "Ilikeyourvoice."

Pit raised an eyebrow, ducked his head and couldn't help but grin. Even if somehow Ike had meant that in a totally platonic way, it made him happy. Oh man…he liked Ike a lot more than he thought. His happy thoughts were immediately cut through with dread. His gut started churning uncomfortably. It sort of felt like dread for the future, like it just got a whole lot worse. Damn.

"You okay?"

Pit smiled shakily. "Yeah," he lied through his teeth. That had just made the whole lot worse even worse.

.:~:.

Pit smashed the pillow over his head. "Link, please go make them shut the heck up!" He couldn't take it anymore. The yelling next door had gone on for what felt like hours. Ike had really hit a sore spot too, since Marth was actually yelling back. It was all his fault too, which made it even worse. The guilt was just happily eating the buffet that was his organs, and it made him want to throw up. He would go over there himself if it weren't for this feeling.

"Link, please!"

Link finally pulled his headphones down around his neck and rubbed his temples. It seemed to Pit that he had desperately been trying to ignore the fight out of spite, but the peacemaker inside of him couldn't seem to take it anymore. He stomped out of the dorm room and furiously banged on the next door.

As soon as Ike had opened the door, Link had yelled, "Shut up! It's one in the morning and you're going to have us all kicked out!"

Ike grimaced and glared. Then he seemed to calm down and give up. "Fine." He slammed the door shut, and Pit saw Link enter the room tiredly not soon after.

Pit quietly murmured a "thanks," rolled over to face the wall, and tried to ignore the feeling that he was losing his digestive track.

Link gently put a hand on his upper arm. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

Link patted his arm. "Get some rest." He then walked over to his own bed, put his headphones back on, grabbed a book, laid down, and started reading.

A little late, Pit barely whispered, "Alright," closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach.

.:~:.

He couldn't get himself out of bed the next day. Pit didn't think that it should be affecting him _this_ badly, because nothing that extreme had happened yet. But here he was, curled up in his bed, unable to move anywhere. Thankfully, without saying anything, Link had managed to understand that he wouldn't be moving any time soon and had left quietly.

Quite frankly, he didn't know what he should expect. They all had classes today, and Pit wasn't worried that they wouldn't cover for him. He was more worried about what would happen when the school day was over. He was worried that another fight would break out, and over something so stupid as to where Marth had run off to the other day.

He really shouldn't have opened his mouth. He felt like screaming. There must be some subconscious psychic in him somewhere, because he wasn't getting this sick dread from just that one argument and a few tense situations alone.

Come lunch time, he had been passing between trying to find pictures on the white wall in front of him and unconsciousness. He hadn't moved at all except to breathe and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew his muscles were probably cramping up. The door to his room had opened, and Pit assumed it was Link.

Thank goodness it was. He felt like he couldn't deal with anyone else. They probably wouldn't have understood that he wasn't up to talking at all at the moment. He merely left a small lunch on the table, just in the slightest chance that Pit would feel like eating and left.

Pit actually fell asleep some time around one in the afternoon. It was a nice sound sleep as well, which he had become thankful for, even if he wasn't conscious enough to feel this thankfulness. He had had a fitful sleep the night before and the zoning in and out could barely count as naps. He welcomed the deep sleep with open arms.


	2. Confessions of a Hero

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

"Pit, wake up. I know you're not up to it, but you've got to get moving." Link gently rubbed Pit's upper arm, trying to wake him up. He had been on the bed all day, and Link could've sworn that he was in the same exact position he had left him in this morning. It didn't take a genius to know that this was bad for the body.

Pit managed to make a small grunt.

Link frowned in worry. "Pit, it's nearly nine. You've skipped all three meals. This isn't good."

Another grunt.

Link felt like tearing out his hair. First Ike with his irrational fighting, and now Pit refused to move. This was going to drive him over the edge. What the heck was up with everyone? Ike had never minded that Marth seemed to enjoy Roy's company more than what seemed proper before, so why start caring now? What made him think that he was the only one who had feelings for him? Link was so mad right now. Ike was so caught up in his own feelings that Link was left in the dust to pick up the pieces. He never even got the chance to act on his own feelings.

Link shook his head. He couldn't think about that now. Take care of Pit now, worry about feelings later. What to do…what to do…

The blond sighed, picked up the bundle that was Pit, and dropped him off on the bathroom counter. Luck was with them that they had ended up in a college that had their own bathrooms in the dorm rooms. Yeah, it was expensive, but right now he was figuring that it was worth it. He plugged the drain and started filling the tub with warm water. He added the bubble soap that one of them had gotten (he'd already forgotten who) but neither of them ever used. Once it was at maximum bubbliness and of a decent temperature he turned his attention back to Pit after turning off the faucet.

After a few seconds of a staring contest, Link gave in. He was tired right now, and didn't want to fight. He started stripping Pit, rolled up his sleeves, and put him into the bath. He sat on a small stool next to the tub and rested his head in his hand. He waited, and waited. As soon as his eyelids started drooping, Pit had finally begun relaxing into the water.

Link woke himself up and forced himself to concentrate. Gently, he started, "Pit, what's up?"

"I dunno. I really don't know."

"Start anywhere. Ramble if you want to. It doesn't feel right seeing you like this."

Just looking at Pit lifeless and unmoving was unnerving him. There was something really wrong and he wanted to know what. He wanted to help.

"Well, I don't know. I feel like it's all my fault Ike and Marth were fighting last…er, well, this morning. I started getting this weird feeling in my stomach yesterday during history. It was like things were going to get a lot worse. And I don't know, all today something's been eating at my gut and I felt so bad like I was going to puke if I so much as moved an inch. I don't know why either, that one fight wasn't bad enough to make me feel like this. I'm starting to think that some part of my brain can tell the future or something, and this is just all for whatever's gonna happen. And I don't know what's going on; it's all my fault, what happened today? You're really tired and out of it."

Link smiled grabbed a bucket and slowly poured the water over Pit's head. He added some shampoo and started lathering. "Well, everyone's pretty much on edge today. Ike's been giving everyone the evil stare of doom, and Marth seemed pretty hurt. I was pretty much clueless until this afternoon, when Marth started talking to me about it. He seemed pretty shaken and mad. He was ranting about Ike being insensitive, and that he didn't own him, but that's besides the point. Apparently he went out with Roy yesterday, and Ike was pretty pissed about it."

"I'm sorry…"

"Eyes," Link said, and Pit closed his eyes as Link poured more water over his head, washing the suds out. "What for?"

"I don't know. Sorry for causing this. Sorry for leaving you alone to deal with them."

Link started putting in some conditioner. "It's alright. They were worried about you too, amongst all that mess. I told them that you weren't feeling well and to just leave you alone right now."

Pit smiled, just barely. "Thanks. So what's up?"

Link looked confused. He'd already answered that, right? "I told you already…?"

Pit laughed and Link was relieved for a short while, glad that Pit was laughing. It didn't even matter that he was laughing at him.

"What's up with you?" Not the most elegant way to put it, but Link got the message.

"I'm just kind of pissed at Ike right now. Eyes." Link rinsed Pit's hair as he spoke. "It's just that he's so focused on his own feelings, that he's barely noticing the rest of us. It's so selfish of him; it's pissing me off, to see him this way. Everything's falling apart, and I don't know what to do. I want to get right along in the fight with him and smack some sense into him while I'm at it, but I'm so busy repairing everything else that I can't get a chance to. It's like he thinks he's the only damn person in the world that cares about Marth in that way, but he's not. Pit, you have to help me knock some sense into him. You're probably the only one he'll listen to right now…"

Pit finally moved to brush some of the tears that threatened to fall away. He then held Link's hands in his own. Link was aware of this, and that he was probably crushing them in a too tight grip, but Pit wasn't complaining. Pit watched, almost amazed, as tears began to fall from Link's eyes.

Pit squeezed his hands back reassuringly. "You get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll get it though his thick skull that you're still alive."

"Thank you so much…" Link whispered as he gently let go of Pit's hands.

As he was washing his face in the sink, Pit said "Same to you."

Link smiled and left the bathroom. Pit finished washing up, and sat around until the water went cold, even after the bubbles were all gone. He then pulled the plug, dried himself off with a nice fluffy towel, and tried to be as quiet as possible as he pulled on boxers and a shirt. After eating the sandwich that was supposed to be his lunch and brushing his teeth, he fell back asleep.  
Confident that Pit was finally feeling better, Link turned around and fell asleep for real, instead of just feigning it. This was good. Things were looking up.

.:~:.

"Wake up lazy. You have a class to get to in twenty minutes."

Link just grabbed the pillow Pit had thrown at him and used it as a teddy bear. Pit flicked him in the forehead. "Come on! You're going to be late!"

"Five more minutes," he muttered.

"You said that fifteen minutes ago! You don't _have_ five minutes more to spare!"

"Fine, fine." Link finally sat up, throwing the pillow back into Pit's face. After staring at the floor for a few moments before realizing he was zoning out, he grabbed some random clothes he had a feeling he wore two days ago, hopped into the shower and took a three minute shower. He dressed, grabbed a piece of toast Pit offered and ran off to his class. What class was it? What class? Oh, right. Literature. Fun.

He made it to class with five minutes to spare and grabbed a seat up front between Zelda and her twin Sheik. Zelda sighed. "Link, your shirt is on backwards."

When all they got was a confused look, Sheik turned up the front of Link's shirt, revealing the tag. Was it really made of seventy-five percent cotton and twenty-five percent polyester? Link quickly turned the shirt around, and prayed that his pants weren't on backwards too. He took a quick look to check. Nope. They were on right.

Zelda giggled a little before asking, "Long night?"

"No, actually. Yesterday was a little hectic though."

Sheik and Zelda gave both gave him a look that said 'Spill. But later.'

Link nodded just as class started.

.:~:.

Link's hand hovered over the door to his dorm room. As soon as he had approached the door, he had gotten a strange twisting feeling in his gut. Mustering up his courage, he unlocked the door and went in.

It was a curious scene, to say in the least. Ike and Pit were both sitting on the floor, Ike with his face buried in the crook of Pit's neck, arms wrapped around his shoulders. Pit somehow managed to look awkward, worried, comforting, and happy at the same time as he had his arms around Ike in a loose hug.

Link blinked, turned around and decidedly left them alone. Yeah, things were looking up, and he was happy.

As he made his way down the street to the local café, he had somehow managed to get into a conversation with Pika. Pika had happily started a conversation with Link before Link had even realized he was walking right next to the bouncy blond. Once they made it into the café, he listened to Pika with one ear as he tried to do homework while drinking a soda and wondered whether the black and brown streaks in the blond's hair were natural.

"Hey, Link! Are you even listening to me?" Pika pouted as he glared at the other blond.

Link blinked. "Uhm…I was?"

Pika sighed and rested his head on a fist. "What was going on yesterday?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied.

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"_Yes_, you do."

"_No_, I don't."

Pika glared.

Link stared.

Pika kept on glaring.

"Okay, fine," Link said, finally giving in. He had told Sheik and Zelda the briefest of brief in the history of brief explanations about what had been going on the other day, and he didn't really feel like recounting it again. He was starting to worry about rumors spreading and then that'd be the end of him.

Link tiredly rubbed his eyes. "Marth and Ike got in a fight, Pit was feeling guilty about it, and I was mad." How was that for brief?

Pika looked reluctant to settle for such little information, but he figured that Link didn't want to talk about it, so he kept quiet. There were a few moments of quiet while Pika ate his brownie and Link did his homework. Finally, Pika's curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "What was the fight about?"

Link just stared at him.

Pika nervously held his hands up in surrender and said, "That's need-to-know. Got it."

Link nodded and went back to his homework. Pika sighed. Link ignored the sigh. He could act as dramatic as he wanted; there was no way he would be getting any more information any time soon. Rumors be damned.


	3. Ashes to Ashes

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

Ike angrily kicked the bottom of his desk as he stared at the computer monitor. In short, he was feeling terrible. Guilt was happily gnawing on what he thought was his stomach and shame was curling around his heart. He couldn't believe how idiotic he had been acting the past couple of days. He was pissed at himself. He had been an insensitive, selfish jerk, and Link and Marth probably hated him. On top of it all, he had an essay to write.

It should be against the law to write essays under such circumstances.

Too bad for Ike no such law existed.

Deciding that he was getting no where, he saved what he had managed to get done (not much) and shut down the computer. He grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet, put on his shoes and left.

He figured he might as well do something productive – which included swallowing his pride and apologizing.

Ike almost froze in his tracks as he realized he had no clue where he was going. Where would he be right now? Oh. Right. Phone. Ike speed dialed number two and waited.

There were a couple of rings before Link picked up. "Ike?"

"Hey. Uhm. I need to talk to you. Are you busy?"

"Not particularly."

"Can you meet me by the tree near the art building?"

"Sure. See you in a few minutes then."

Ike blankly nodded, not realizing Link couldn't see him, and hung up. He started walking towards the aforementioned tree thinking about what he would say. Then he decided against it. For some reason, prewriting an apology like it was some kind of speech seemed kind of insincere to him.

Sheik suddenly walked up to him and matched his stride. "Hey. Are you okay?"

Ike looked at him curiously. They weren't mortal enemies but they weren't good friends either. On the best of days they made small talk, and Sheik would never ask him if he was okay unless he'd been sick or mauled by a cat or something. So naturally, Ike would be curious. "Yeah. Why?"

"Link said something about you getting in a fight with Marth the other day. I was just wondering if you guys were okay or not." Sheik explained. He quickly added, "Zelda and I were just worried and we made him tell."

Ike raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess. We haven't exactly spoken yet, but I think Marth's okay." There was a pause before he said, "Are rumors spreading already?"

Sheik shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that. I mean, I only wanted to know to make sure he was okay. I don't know what Zelda did with that information though. Sometimes she tells sometimes she doesn't."

"Hm…I'll have to ask her about that later," Ike mused absently. He was only using half of his mind to process the conversation right now. The other half was busy freaking out and being manipulated by his shame, trying to get him to turn tail and get the heck out of there while he still could.

"I'll see you later then." Sheik did a small salute and walked off.

Great. Now he didn't even have that to somewhat distract him. Now his whole mind was busy trying not to fall prey to his shame and he was just hoping he wouldn't walk head-on into a pole or a trashcan.

Ike spotted Link by the tree, waiting. He had to force himself to take a deep breath, beat his shame into a little cage and keep walking.

"Hey, Link."

"Ike."

Ouch. He told himself to suck it up and continue. "I was being an ass for the past couple of days."

Link resisted the urge to roll his eyes and say, "You think?" So with nothing better to say he kept quiet.

"Okay, I was being worse than that." Ike almost turned around and ran. This was hard. "I was being stupid, insensitive, a bastard, however you want to say it. Thing is, I finally realized and I feel really bad about it. And I guess it won't do much but I'm sorry."

Link tried to keep his angry face up for a few moments, failed, and smiled. "Yeah. Well, just don't forget that you're not the only one."

Ike smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

Link mirrored the smirk. "Maybe. I doubt we stand much of a chance though."

Ike slightly shrugged. "Doesn't hurt too much to try."

.:~:.

Ike walked back happily to his room. After talking to Link for a while, he felt considerably better. Some would even say he had an extra spring in his step; but no one would, if they were smart enough. Ike felt like he could finish that whole essay in one go now, and that's just what he set off to do.

He sat down in his chair and just thought for a while. Guilt was just sort of poking through his guts and the shame wasn't as constricting anymore. It felt nice. Okay, so he had to admit that he was avoiding having to confront Marth. He didn't know if Marth had calmed down yet or not, and wasn't about to risk it yet.

Then, Ike spotted a yellow Post-It note on the corner of the monitor and his thoughts screeched to a halt. He removed the little paper and recognized Marth's neat writing immediately.

_Ike  
I'm going to be gone for the weekend.  
Don't starve.  
Marth_

Ike had to resist the urge to crumple the paper and toss it into the trash. Well, damn. There went his plan to finish the essay. He sighed, left the room again and knocked on the door to the right.

Pit opened the door soon after with a confused look. "Ike?"

Ike silently held up the Post-It. Pit scanned the short note and silently let Ike in. He sat on the bed, staring at the floor between his feet. Pit closed the door and stood in front of him.  
Getting right to the point, Ike said, "I need you to hit me. Slap me. Or something."

"Wait, what?"

Okay, maybe he should clarify. "You read the note, right?"

Pit nodded.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to control myself the next time I see him."

Pit frowned, still terribly confused. "But if you were sane enough to come and ask me…er…to smack some sense into you, shouldn't you be okay?"

"I don't know. I figured that this would be sort of a precaution. Maybe if there was some pain involved I'd be able to remember next time."

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

Pit worried his bottom lip, and after an indecisive moment, he raised his hand. He closed his eyes and smacked him.

Ike just sort of sat there, holding his quickly reddening cheek, staring at Pit in shock. Had he gone to Link, he knew the blond would have done it in a heartbeat, no questions asked. That's why he'd asked Pit. He figured even if he _had_ done that, it wouldn't have hurt quite as much. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

Pit pouted. "But you said to! I even asked if you were sure!"

"I didn't think that you would hit so hard!"

He childishly stuck his tongue out. "Well too bad." After a second Pit plucked the Post-It from Ike's other hand and looked at it. After another moment, he wondered aloud, "Did he really think you would starve?"

"Do you remember when I got fired 'cause I nearly blew up the kitchen?"

Pit nodded, holding back the laughter. It hadn't been quite that funny back then, but thinking back on it now, the manager's face had been priceless. Through the chuckles that escaped he asked, "But wasn't your job to clean up?"

"Exactly," Ike simply said.

Pit started laughing and Ike sort of joined him. As the laughter died out, Ike rubbed his stinging cheek and quietly said, "But, seriously, I don't think I'll be able to control my temper. I don't even know why I completely blew up the last time."

Pit squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Maybe you just have to find another way to channel out your feelings."

"Like what?"

He shrugged. "Like the usual courtship stuff."

Ike actually considered it for a split second before discarding the idea. He had never been good at that kind of thing (giving flowers, reciting lines of poetry and all that other crap). He shook his head. "Nah."

Pit chuckled. "Right. Not your thing."

Ike shrugged. "Hey, we can't all be romantics."

"Don't worry about it, okay? It'll work out." Pit squeezed his hand again, though it seemed more for himself than for Ike this time. "Just promise that you won't get depressed or mad…or both if it doesn't work out like you want it."

Ike let a smile show on his face. This was why he liked talking to Pit. His voice was calm and soothing and just warm; he loved it. "Alright."

However, even with the promise hanging over his head, and with guilt and shame lurking around, he was still worried that he would lose his temper.

Pit poked his uninjured cheek. "You promised. Don't worry."

Ike didn't say anything this time and stared at the floor.

"Ike!" he whined. He frowned in thought for a while. "Do you want to go do something? I mean, just to get your mind off of it?"

Ike doubted it would work, but what the heck. He might as well, seeing that Pit was really trying to help him. "Alright."


	4. It All Falls Down

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

He was staying over at Roy's this weekend. He'd promise that it would only be the two of them, but there was something wrong. As they sat together, eating at some sushi place, he couldn't help but think of what had been going on for the past few days. Okay, sure, he'd known that he had more than friendly feelings for Roy, but he'd never really delved into how strong those feelings were. His fight with Ike had gotten him thinking, and honestly, he just wanted to escape it all for a while. Roy had been happy that he'd get Marth to himself for a weekend, and Marth thought that it would be fun too.

He never thought that the fight would follow with him.

"Marth, are you okay?"

Marth smiled. "I'm sorry, Roy. I'm not really being fair am I?"

"What are you talking about?" Roy looked genuinely concerned.

Marth shook his head. "I don't want to ruin the weekend by talking about it."

Roy frowned. "Please?"

Marth sighed, giving in. "Later."

Roy smiled. "Okay, but don't let me catch you zoning out again, alright?"

"So as long as you don't catch me it's alright?"

"Y-No!"

Marth laughed, and not long after Roy joined him. Yeah, this was good. As the laughter subsided, Roy gently prodded one of Marth's hands.

"But in all seriousness, I don't like seeing you like that."

Marth smirked while he discretely pulled his hand away. He had a feeling he knew the answer, but he couldn't help but ask, "Why not?" It sounded like a challenge.

Roy gently took Marth's hand, leaned forward, and brushed his lips against the smooth skin. He looked up from under his eyelashes; ocean blue eyes glinting as he cleverly met the challenge. Marth had to keep himself from flinching away in shock and then keep the blush from showing on his face.

"Because, dear prince, I like you too much to like seeing you in even the slightest amount of distress." Roy smiled and looked up with his whole face this time.

Marth struggled to keep his composure. Prince? Where in the world did that come from? "Well, I apologize, dear sir," he slid his hand away from Roy, "but I'm afraid that it will never work."

"And why is that, my lord?" Roy held Marth in a steady stare, sincerely curious.

Marth's heart suddenly started running a mile a minute and his stomach suddenly took up gymnastics. He quickly searched his brain for an answer. Why in the world did he say that? It wouldn't work? What, for goodness' sake, did he hope to accomplish with that?

"Such a relationship is unapproved of in many places," he responded shakily. He had meant that in more ways than one, leaving it up to Roy to decide which one he meant, or maybe even seeing all the ways at once.

"Well it'll be my job to make it work, if you wish, my lord." His stare remained unwavering.

Joining his heart and stomach, his lungs suddenly decided to stop working. "Dear sir, wishes are for those who are unable to reach such a goal."

"Then if you request, sire."

He was trapped. As much as he had avoided outright stating his feelings to Roy, he couldn't escape now. He had to give him props on that one. "I request it, sir." After a slight pause, Marth suddenly feared that he would, for some unknown reason, kiss him. Well, he supposed he wanted it, but didn't really think he was ready for it; so he prepared himself for anything.

Roy smiled and brought Marth's hand back to his lips. "It shall be done."

Marth's cheeks turned a light pink as happiness blossomed somewhere near his heart. Yeah, these next couple of days would be nice.

.:~:.

Marth looked at the long aisle of assorted frozen foods before him. They'd agree that they'd eat dinner at Roy's apartment, but also agreed that neither of them wanted to cook. He felt a bit awkward, trying to figure out what to get. He hadn't eaten frozen foods for a while, and for the life of him couldn't remember what he preferred. Roy said he was happy with whatever Marth chose, and that made it all the more difficult.

"So…" Roy started awkwardly.

"You know, I feel like eating muffins," Marth stated unexpectedly.

"Muffins?"

Marth nodded as he became aware of an old lady passing by giving them the eye. "Blueberry muffins." Roy smiled as he tried to keep back the laughter. Marth raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "What's so funny?"

"I never took you for the type to eat muffins for dinner."

"I never took you for the type to read novels."

Roy feigned shock and hurt. "Are you implying something?"

"Implying? Who's implying?" Marth asked and looked around, pretending to be confused.

"I believe you are."

"Then I believe that you believe wrong."

Roy brushed his lips against Marth's cheek and started walking. "I can live with that. Let's go get your muffins."

Marth simply blinked as he waited for his heart to restart. He wasn't sure he would be able to take this for much longer.

.:~:.

Marth sat by Roy on the couch, muffin and milk happily being digested in his stomach. Overall, it had been a productive day of doing nothing. After eating lunch, they had gone to the movies, went to get the muffins, played video games as the muffins sat unattended on the kitchen table, ate the muffins with some milk, and here they were, channel surfing.

All of a sudden, Roy shut off the small television, turned to Marth, and asked, "So what's been going on?"

Marth sighed and looked down. Guess it had to happen sooner or later. "Well, to put things bluntly, Ike and I had a fight."

"Over what?" It wasn't like Marth to get into fights, especially with Ike.

"Something stupid," Marth said. He crossed his arms and his leg started bouncing as he frowned in irritation.

This only made Roy more curious. Marth almost never fought, but he had, and with Ike to boot, plus the fact that it had been about 'something stupid?' There was something definitely wrong. "What was it?"

Marth's cheeks started turning red, although the frown stayed firmly in place. "He was unreasonably furious about me going out with you the other day. Whether he was mad at you or me, I don't know, but it was so extremely…_imprudent_ and _rude_ and…" Marth huffed in frustration, trying to restrain the urge to kick the small table in front of him. "I mean, who the hell does he think he is to have the right to believe that I somehow _belong_ to him?!" He forced himself to calm down. He never cussed. Ever. When he started to, that's when he knew that he had to calm himself. He covered his face with a hand, trying to keep his emotions in check. "It was so irrationally and overwhelmingly _stupid_ of him, to even say such nonsense," he ground out. "What else was I supposed to do? Sit there and take it?"

Roy gently moved the hand covering Marth's face away. He was surprised to find the beginnings of tears in the shining sapphire eyes. Roy closed his eyes and brought Marth's fingers to his lips. "Hell no."

Marth openly took the invitation, despite the unrefined way it was given, and leaned into Roy, accepting the comfort.

"Don't worry," Roy said. "I'm sure by now he's realized how irrationally he'd been acting."

Marth smiled slightly in thanks.

Roy tentatively brought his lips to Marth's, stopping a hair's breadth away. To his surprise, Marth impulsively closed the distance and even repositioned his body so that they could be closer. Roy couldn't help but deepen the kiss, pulling Marth against him. Marth couldn't help but think that this was a nice way to end the day.

.:~:.

The next day, though slightly awkward because of the kiss, went surprisingly normally. They both avoided the topic, but, of course, that didn't stop the discrete (and at times indiscrete) flirting from happening.

So, with the fight practically forgotten, the next next day (after classes and work), Marth was in a pretty good mood. There was that minor annoyance that was Link though. Danged blond wouldn't stop bugging him about whatever had happened over the weekend, which meant that Pit wouldn't stop with the insinuating jokes that came with it. Marth pretty much, finally, figured that it was okay to go along with the jokes as long as they knew what really happened – and what hadn't.

Marth lazily erased something on his paper and wiped off the bits to the side. He forgot that Link was sitting right in firing range on the floor, but Marth didn't really care. "Where's Ike? I haven't seen him all day."

"Said something about an essay," Link mumbled while attempting to glue one thing to some other thing.

"But he wasn't in the room," Marth answered, madly flipping through his notes to find the answer to the question. He was aware he was making a mess on Pit's bed, but hey, he'd clean the papers up later.

There was an awkward silence before Pit decided to speak up. "I think he's avoiding you."

"Avoiding me…?" Marth stopped rifling through his notes to look at Pit who was, instead of doing work, drawing a face on his eraser. "What makes you say that?"

"Er…" Pit started nervously pulling on a lock of his hair.

Marth slowly put down the papers and turned to fully face the brunet. "What?"

Link sighed, still struggling with the glue. "He was bound to find out eventually."

"Find out _what_?" Marth was starting to get irritated. They knew something he obviously didn't and weren't telling him, for whatever reason. They knew something _important_ and weren't telling him.

Pit still refused to answer, nervously swinging his legs.

"Fine," Marth said, fed up. He haphazardly stuffed his papers back into his binder and books, hoping somewhere in the back of his mind that he would be able to find them later, and threw them into his bag. "I'll just ask him myself." Before either Link or Pit could say anything more on the matter, he was out the door, shouldering his bag.

Marth was always one of the more action oriented people. When left on his own, and were he not relaxing, after sitting still for naught but a minute, he'd be up and running, doing anything and everything possible, from cleaning to arranging and rearranging the already arranged whatever happened to be arranged. He disliked having people do what he could do himself and, until he had learned at an early age that some things _required_ more than one person, had set out to do everything on his own.

Even though he felt like he was barreling through everyone (despite his attempts to be polite), he did not slow down in his search for Ike. Although he did not know where to look first, his pace did not slow and eventually found himself going towards the library. Alright, he figured that would be as good a place to start as any, since that would be a place where Ike could keep his word about working on an essay and avoid Marth at the same time.

Marth quietly opened the door to the library, slowing himself down so that he would not create any unnecessary noise. He wandered around the numerous shelves for a while, waved hello to Samus (who had waved distractedly back at him before quickly going back to glaring at the book she was holding), actually thumbed through a book he thought he would need, and wandered a little more before spotting Ike. He was surrounded by many open books and loose papers, bent over a piece of paper furiously writing, scratching out what he wrote, writing, and scratching again.

Marth lightly plopped himself in the chair across from him. Without giving any warning, he said, "I doubt this is the best of times, but we need to talk."

Ike froze and visibly tensed when he heard his voice.

Marth didn't wait for a verbal response; he doubted he was going to get one any time soon. "Why are you avoiding me?"

"You're not mad anymore?" Ike muttered to his paper.

Marth frowned. "What you did was incredibly stupid, yes, but, no. I think I've regained my senses enough to have a civil conversation. Is that why?"

Ike shook his head, still staring at the paper, pen still poised over paper.

Confused, Marth asked, "Then why?"

Ike sighed, put down his pencil, and rubbed his eyes. "I don't trust myself."

Marth patiently and silently waited for an explanation. Ike didn't believe that he would understand that statement, did he?

"I don't think I'll be able to keep from arguing again." Ike finally explained.

"You seem to be doing a good job of it right now."

"Not really." There was a slight pause as Ike started playing with his pen. "So how was your weekend?"

Marth was starting to feel guilty about putting Ike through this. He was trying so hard to not do anything stupid and Marth was pretty much making it all the harder. "It was…" Pause. "Okay."

Ike lifted his head up curiously. "Just…okay? From what I heard you were practically beaming all day."

Marth blinked in shock. He had unknowingly given bait to Ike, and he had snapped it up, whether it was also unknowingly or not. "I wasn't aware I was beaming."

Ike shrugged. "I don't know if it's true or not. You know I was avoiding seeing you all day. I just heard from Zelda. It's just, you know, if it was true I would think that the weekend was more than 'okay.'"

Marth crossed his arms and frowned. "I thought I would just spare you from suffering the annoying details of it all."

"Hey, I was just asking how it was. I didn't want to be going off of assumptions here." Ike seemed to be restraining himself from something.

For a reason unknown to him, Marth was growing irritated. He never thought he'd be the one to lose his cool first, and it was a little frightening. He uncrossed his arms and nearly slammed his hands on the table as he stood. He barely reminded himself that they were in the library. "You want to know the truth? Fine. It was great."

Ike closed his eyes and crossed his arms and before he could stop himself he said, "What, the sex?"

It took a surprisingly long while for either of them to process exactly what Ike had said. It took Ike an even longer time to register the fact that Marth had punched him in the face and stormed off before he could react.

Ike didn't even bother to hold his quickly bruising cheek and eye as he stared at the empty chair before him. There was only one thought going through his numbed mind:

"Shit."

* * *


	5. The Calm of Angels

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

"Hey, Pit, can I talk to you?"

Pit wasn't even half awake when he had answered the door (Link was too lazy to get up) and found Marth standing there looking a little dejected. There was also the fact that it was around three in the morning and he had a class at five, but what the heck. "Sure."

They didn't go far to talk. All Pit did was step out and close the door, then lean back against the wall. Marth followed suit, leaning against the opposite wall.

"I'm an idiot."

Pit almost lost his balance out of shock. "Why?"

Marth sort of slid to the floor and pulled his legs to his chest. "I just am."

Pit crouched in front of him. "What makes you say that?"

Marth pressed his forehead against his knees. "Ike was trying so hard to be considerate and I just had to mess it up."

Oh dear. Pit gently placed a hand over one of Marth's. "What happened?"

"I punched him."

Pit winced. "Ah."

"It was actually going pretty well, but I started getting irritated. I don't know why. And…I guess…" Marth took a deep breath. "I guess it kind of scared me a little, that I was loosing it so easily. Then he finally made a stupid remark and…well, I hit him."

Pit gently tightened his grip on Marth's hand. "It's okay. I'm sure he didn't mind." As Marth stayed silent, Pit leaned back so he was sitting on his butt. His legs were starting to fall asleep. Then he added, "And about you getting irritated so easily. It might just be one of those survival mechanism things. Before Ike could say something stupid again, you did first, that way you could control when it happened." Pit half shrugged. "Then again, I could be over-thinking and be totally blaming the wrong thing." Pit looked back at Marth. "The point is, you shouldn't worry about it too much."

Marth sighed. "But I feel horrible."

"Well…you could apologize."

"If I can make myself."

"Hey, it'll be fine." Pit grinned. "I promise. Now get some sleep, alright? You have an early class later."

He helped him up then went to go back into his room. Before he closed the door all the way, Marth quietly said, "Thanks."

Pit smiled to himself and replied, "No problem."

.:~:.

Pit all but collapsed onto his bed. He was tired and he didn't know why. Okay, so maybe running multiple errands for multiple people could be tiring, and he did have an issue with saying 'no' sometimes, but it wasn't all that bad. When his phone started ringing, for a split second he considered letting phone ring, but went for the phone anyways and flipped it open taking a quick glance at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Is Marth okay?"

"Erm…yeah, why?" Pit replied uneasily. Had something happened that he missed? He hadn't seen Marth all day, but Marth had seemed relatively happy throughout the week.

"Oh, okay. It's just that he seemed uneasy when I talked to him earlier and when I asked him about it, he just said that he got into a few more fights and it was nothing. He didn't want to talk about it…" Roy explained, seeming to be lost in thought.

Pit tightened his grip on the phone and stared with wide eyes at the ceiling. A few fights? Wasn't there just one? So he had missed something after all. "Roy?"

"Yeah?"

"Actually, I'm not sure if he's okay or not. Sorry…I haven't seen him all day and you know this week he seemed better. I didn't know that there had been more fights. I could try to talk to him about it if you want."

Roy was silent for a while and Pit started to feel bad. Then Roy said, "Could you, please? I mean, you probably have your hands full with other stuff, and I would do it myself if I could, but you know…"

"No, it's nothing, really! I'm the one who offered after all," Pit replied quickly. "I'm worried too." He paused, then quietly said, "I don't know what's going to happen…"

"Thanks," Roy said softly.

"Anytime."

"And, Pit?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck. See ya."

What? Confused, Pit said, "Yeah, thanks," and hung up. What was up with that? Good luck? Good luck with what?

His thoughts were interrupted when Link burst into the room. "Pit! There you are; have you seen Ike?"

Startled, Pit sat up and looked at Link. He was leaning against the doorframe panting for breath. Pit immediately became worried. "No. What's wrong?"

Once he caught his breath, Link started to explain, "I stopped to talk to Marth on his way to work, but all he said was sorry and grumbled something about Ike and stomped off. I was going to follow him, but he seemed pretty ticked off, so I've been trying to find Ike for the last half hour to try and find out what happened."

Pit glanced at the clock, then slowly said, "Doesn't he have a class right now?"

Link gradually calmed down as he looked at the clock as well and thought. "Now that you mention it…I think he does…what time does it end?"

"Fifteen to twenty minutes, give or take."

"Oh. Can you talk to him then? I have a class then."

"Sure."

Link smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you later." He then turned around and left.

Pit covered his eyes and held in a sigh. Just when he thought things were getting better too.

.:~:.

Pit felt awkward, standing in the hallway all alone. He hadn't known exactly what time Ike's class ended so he was stuck standing there for an unknown amount of time. As he finally settled down and started spacing out, people started filtering out of the doors.

"Pit?" Ike stood in front of him, looking at him curiously and causing quite a disturbance in the traffic flow. "How long have you been here?"

Pit brought himself back from his thoughts and focused on Ike. "Uhm…I'm not exactly sure…" He glanced around. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure. Let's move though. I think people are getting mad that I'm just standing here."

Ike took his hand and started leading him down the hall. They stopped outside under the cool shade of a tree. Ike turned to face Pit and asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

Pit frowned and crossed his arms. He swallowed his nervousness and apprehension before he started speaking. "You guys fought again."

"Oh. Yeah." Ike rubbed the back of his head and awkwardly looked away.

Pit sighed and dropped his angry face, letting his arms fall to his sides. "Why?"

Ike leaned against the tree. "I was stupid again."

Pit kept himself from saying "Well, obviously." He also refrained from rolling his eyes. If it wasn't one it was the other. He felt like he was talking to two little kids. So instead, he asked, "What happened?"

Pit waited patiently as Ike fiddled with the strap of his bag. It seemed like minutes passed before Ike spoke up. "So…Marth was apologizing for last week, right?" Pit nodded and silently encouraged him to continue. "It was good for a short while, even if it was a little awkward…And…" Ike sighed. "I fucked up."

Pit subconsciously winced. Softly, he asked, "What'd you do?"

Ike covered his mouth and looked back down. After a pause and a bit muffled, he brokenly said, "I…kissed him."

Pit had to restrain from smacking himself. "Ike…" He worriedly looked at him as he loosely held his other hand with both of his. "Do you know why?"

"Not really…I think it was mostly impulse." He sighed and let his hand fall to his side. "I don't even remember what we were talking about."

Pit's eyes widened as he got a closer look at Ike's face. He reached up with one hand and barely brushed his fingertips over the ridge of his cheek. A bruise was starting to form. "Didn't this just heal?" he quietly wondered aloud.

Ike closed his eyes. "Yeah…"

Pit took a deep breath and withdrew his hand. He looked down at the cool, green grass. He couldn't help but think in the back of his mind how resilient the little green plants were. Every day people go stomping around on them yet they spring back up as if nothing had ever happened. It'd be nice if people were like grass.

"Pit?"

He slowly raised his head to look at Ike again with a questioning look.

Ike rested his forehead on the crook of Pit's neck and gently wrapped his arms around him. "What should I do…?"

Pit could feel Ike's breath through his shirt, and would even say he liked the warmth. Still, that didn't stop him from feeling awkward. He wanted to take what he could from the situation, but thought that it would be taking advantage of it, and he found that morally wrong. He wanted to wish that Ike liked him as more than a friend, so that this whole predicament wouldn't be happening, but that sounded selfish to him, even though it would've had a better outcome. He pressed his forehead against Ike's shoulder as he thought. After a long silence, Pit responded. "I think you should both distance yourselves for a while." Huh. It sounded a lot less harsh in his head.

Ike was silent as he thought. Then he quietly asked, "…yeah?"

Pit nodded. "Recently…every time either of you tries to make up, it always ends up like this…"

Ike tightened his grip on the cloth of Pit's shirt. "I guess that makes sense…I could try…"

Pit was going to smile, but that felt wrong to him too, so he didn't. "I…I could tell Marth too…"

"It would work easier with both of us knowing about it, huh?" he asked a bit sardonically.

Pit gulped down the bad feeling crawling up his throat and remained silent as he finally, tentatively, returned Ike's embrace.

There were a few moments of heavy, awkward silence. Ike finally pulled away and Pit reluctantly let him. Ike leaned back against the tree again and laughed bitterly. "I don't stand a chance."

Well what could he say to that? He knew very well he couldn't lie, he himself wouldn't even believe it. He couldn't blatantly restate the obvious either. He stayed silent and looked back to the grass.

Ike took notice of his uneasy stance and smiled. "Sorry…That was a stupid thing to say."

Pit looked up at him and slightly tilted his head to the side. "No, it's okay," he said honestly.

Ike laughed again. "Thank you so much for putting up with this. Man…I don't know what'd I do without you."

Pit smiled. "You're always welcome."

What seemed like it came out on a breath, Pit heard Ike say, "…I think I love you."

Pit's heart skipped a beat as his brain took it in. He had to be hearing things. Shakily, he asked, "Wh-what?"

Ike looked confused. "Hm? Did I say something?"

Pit had to keep himself from feeling too disappointed. He faked a laugh. "Never mind. I guess I'm hearing things. Come on, I think you should put some ointment on that bruise."

Ike almost asked Pit about what he had heard, but then chickened out. He hadn't been aware that he had said that either, until it was out there, and was just glad that he could feign confusion. He weakly convinced himself that if Pit wanted to talk about it, he would have, and that he shouldn't worry about how that laugh sounded odd. With his gut churning with strange feelings he quietly said, "Okay."


	6. Comfort to the Comforting

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

Link looked worriedly at Pit. He looked as if he was working on homework, pencil poised over paper, book opened and all, but he had a blank stare. Well, it wasn't quite a stare, those sky blue eyes would blink now and again, but Link got the feeling that Pit wasn't all there.

Abandoning his own pencil, Link brought up his hand and pushed it up under Pit's bangs, feeling his forehead. Hm. He brought it back to feel his own. Well, he didn't have a fever.

However, there was obviously something wrong with him, so Link resisted the urge to ask about the obvious. Instead, he chose to ask, "Pit, what's wrong?"

Pit half shrugged, not willing to talk about it.

Link, determined not to let the matter go, gently took the pencil from him and put it in the book. As soon as the pencil left his grasp, Pit flopped back onto his bed, practically spread-eagled, apparently not caring whether his books and papers were knocked off or not. Link carefully put all the loose papers into the book, closed it and set it aside on the desk. The blond then sat on the edge of the bed, near Pit's knee, and tentatively put his hand over one of Pit's, unsure whether the other would accept Link's presence or not.

After a tense moment, right before Link was going to withdraw his hand, Pit turned his over to face palm up and slowly, almost hesitantly, wrapped his fingers around Link's hand. Though Pit had done this, acknowledging and accepting Link's comfort, he still remained silent, and Link respected that. He was willing to wait however long it would take until Pit spoke.

He had come to figure that although Pit seemed very open and would never turn down a friend in need, he had trouble letting others in to let them soothe his own worries.

Pit sighed, throwing his free arm over his eyes. "I don't know what to feel anymore."

This startled Link, and he had to force himself to not physically jump in surprise. Gently, he asked, "About what?"

"This whole predicament."

Link didn't know what to say, so he kept silent.

Pit's fingers curled and uncurled, then curled again around Link's hand. "You know, I still feel like this is all my fault."

"It isn't, Pit."

"But it is!" Pit slid his arm so that it now covered his mouth so that he could glower at the ceiling. "If I hadn't said anything, none of this would be happening! Even…even if…if…I mean, everyone was aware of it, right? But I was like that stupid last proverbial straw that had to be placed on the poor proverbial camel and break its back! I didn't mean for it to happen…I…I wasn't thinking."

Link leaned over and used his free hand to wipe away Pit's tears. "It's not your fault," he repeated. "Ike's a stubborn person. Even if you hadn't said that, there would have been some other straw that would break his control."

Pit nearly whimpered. "Even so…if that's not my fault, what's going on right now is."

Honestly confused, Link let it show on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"You know how there's been a distance between them lately?"

Link silently nodded. He'd noticed, but didn't want to say anything.

"It's my fault. I told Ike that I thought that they should distance themselves, and he thought it was a good idea, so I told Marth later. Now I can't even talk to them both at the same time! When one walks in the other walks out, or he'll just turn around and leave. They won't even stay in the same room together! I'm glad it worked to keep them from fighting, but I feel wretched about it. I can't help but think that I somehow tricked myself into believing it was a good idea just so that I could distance him from Marth. And it feels wrong. I feel like I could've suggested something better, but I didn't even try. Because of what I said none of us can be together and just hang out, and it's just really awkward and tense." Pit choked out a sob. "I'm horrible."

Link gently pulled Pit up and allowed him to hug him tightly. Keeping one hand around Pit's, Link used the other hand to create soothing circles on Pit's back. "Why do you think that you purposely didn't search for other options?"

"It was the first thing that came to mind…and I just said it, without thinking of anything else." He took slow, deliberate breaths, trying to stem the flow of tears. "That and…Somewhere in the back of my mind, where I'm glad that the fighting's stopped…I just _know_ that I wanted to separate them…I'm happy Ike's staying away from Marth." Pit pulled back to where he wasn't pressing his face into Link's shoulder, but wasn't quite far enough to break the embrace. "Now tell me if that doesn't sound wrong." He asked, looking down ashamedly.

Link gently pushed Pit's bangs out of his eyes. "You like him, huh?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Pit nodded anyway. Pit wanted to be childish and say. "You can't tell anyone, swear on it," but didn't feel the need to, trusting that Link already knew.

There was a moment of silence before Link blatantly said, "Don't feel bad."

Pit looked at him questioningly.

"Even though the way you put it makes it sound wrong, I don't think it is."

Pit frowned. "How can it not be? It's selfish."

Link smiled. "Ah, but I think it's the best for this kind of situation."

The frown stayed on Pit's face but his eyes were puzzled.

"Okay, so, if Marth was anything but hopelessly in love with Roy – which he is, whether he's willing to admit it or not – yeah, the way you're handling things would be wrong." Before Pit could agree – or protest, whichever he wanted – Link continued. "_But_. Since Marth _is_, there's no problem with what you're doing. I actually think your advice is the best Ike could take right now. Ike stands little to no chance in his struggle to win Marth over, but he's too proud or stubborn to give up."

"I still don't see how this makes me not as bad," Pit interrupted skeptically.

Link gently flicked him in the forehead. "Let me finish then. Since Ike won't give up on his own, you're helping him do that, whether either of you realize it or not. So while you may seem selfish, under these circumstances I think it's okay."

Pit stared at Link with wide eyes and sat there in silence. The way Link was speaking, and the way he was smiling, made him think that he knew more than he was letting on. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "What do you know?"

Link just smiled wider. "I don't _know_ anything."

"What's your inference then, oh great Link?" Pit asked, getting irritated by Link's sly smile despite himself.

"I think Ike likes you more than he knows."

Pit blinked, losing whatever irritation and skepticism he had, replacing it all with confusion. "_What?_ Don't even joke about stuff like that, Link! It's already bad enough with him throwing all these dead hints around everywhere, but now you have to throw them at me too? I mean, he keeps giving these hints, or whatever, expects me to take it platonically, and still tries to win Marth over. I don't know whether to keep my feelings down or get hopeful or what anymore."

Link dropped his smile and his sea green eyes were dead serious, but gentle at the same time. "I don't think Ike's doing it on purpose. Like I said, he probably likes you more than he even knows himself. So he's unknowingly leading you on while he still stubbornly goes after Marth." Link shrugged slightly after a pause. "But don't think on that too much. I might be over thinking and over observing. I'm just saying it's a possibility." Contradicting his words however, Link grinned and said, "But why do you think he always goes to you for help?"

Pit rolled his eyes. "I don't know, 'cause you suck at it?" Pit smiled right after however, eyes conveying his thanks. He pulled back and leaned against the wall. "Hey, what about you?"

"Hm?"

"Well, you like Marth, right?"

Link leaned back as well and hummed in thought. "I've been thinking about that and I think it was just a mild attraction. I actually never seriously thought about acting on my feelings – even though I really was bothered about it for a while – and I think it's better this way."

Pit nodded lazily. Then he smiled as a thought occurred to him. "Is that girl Ruto still writing you?"

Link almost shuddered. He'd known her since elementary and she had been convinced they were meant to be together until they were old and gray from the moment she saw him. Link thought she was pretty and could be a decent person, but she was too clingy, possessive, and, more often then not, too stuck up for his taste. However, he regularly exchanged e-mails (he wasn't even sure when e-mailing her had become 'regular' anymore) with her anyway because they could actually hold a decent conversation; and since she had matured past the obnoxiously clingy level, he found he trusted her with just about everything. Link mentally brought himself back from the past. "Yeah," he finally replied.

"Does she know about the current drama?"

Link caught onto what Pit was trying to ask. "Mm. She thinks the same as you about the current situation."

Pit's eyes widened. "Really?"

"'Course." Link patted him on the head. "Now stop beating yourself up. Most other people would've told them the same thing."

"Thanks," Pit said. "Oh, and when I said you suck?"

"Yeah?"

"I lied," he answered, smiling.

Link laughed. "Okay."


	7. Mission Impossible

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

Roy wandered into the little café looking around, wondering if he was in the right place. It had been a while since he'd entered the building and it had slightly changed. Readjusting the straps of his bag on his shoulder and shoving his keys into his pocket, he scanned the tables. Finally finding the blond he was looking for, he wove his way around the tables and people and sat across from him, plopping his bag down to the side of the small table.

"Hey. Long time no see." As he said this, he couldn't help but glance at the papers almost scattered over the table. Link's writing was extraordinarily neat, even though Roy felt as if he was rushing as he wrote the words, but no matter how neat the words were, with just a mere glance Roy couldn't make heads nor tails of whatever was on the papers.

"Hey." Link quickly gathered all his papers into a small stack and stuck them in a binder and set them aside.

Curiously, Roy looked at the lone lined paper Link left out. He then looked back at Link, with a questioning look. "So what did you want to talk about?"

Link smiled, and Roy couldn't keep himself from leaning back. He didn't know whether to be scared at such a devilish expression or excited. Link obviously had something devious in mind, and Roy was normally all for things like that, but he wasn't used to _Link_ having those kinds of ideas. "Well, first off, do you know about the current predicament?"

Roy rose is eyebrows quizzically. "Well, from what I've heard, they're avoiding each other, right?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. Now just listen for a moment. I've noted an interesting observation. Even though Ike is still going after Marth, I personally think it's obvious that he's started to like Pit a lot more, and he's just too stubborn to see it. Now, if Ike could just realize this himself, then everything would be solved, right? I mean, including the fact that Pit's liked Ike for a while, it pretty much solves the problem."

Roy smiled, absorbing all of this new information. "And that's where we come in?"

Link returned his smile. "Precisely. I believe this has gone long enough to warrant for a little intervention, don't you?"

"I do," Roy agreed, barely keeping a grin from appearing on his face. "You have any ideas?"

Link half shrugged. "I'm not nearly as good as coming up with this sort of thing as you are. I kind of thought about it, though. The idea's idiotic, by far."

"Hey, it's better than nothing. Let's hear it," Roy encouraged, going to drink his water.

Link laughed. "I always thought it'd be amusing to shove them into a closet and lock the door."

Roy almost choked and started laughing. "Well, as long as you'll take the blame for it. I like my face where it is." Roy paused to actually get some water down his throat. Then he said, "Write it down as an idea, anyways. What else do you have?"

Link wrote the idea down and tapped the eraser end of the pencil against his lip. "Well, we could always just do that 'accidental' push thing and run and hide or something."

"I think that's a slightly safer prospect…" Roy thought aloud, playing with the lemon that had come with his water. "I'm not entirely sure it'll work though. We could try."

Link nodded, jotting it down for later. He then looked at the redhead's thoughtful face. "What are you thinking of?"

Roy grinned and his eyes lit up. "I got it!"

"Yeah?" Link asked skeptically.

"Let's get a blimp!"

Link resisted the urge to bang his head against the table, and instead opted to just stare and say, "No."

"Aw come on!" Roy pleaded.

"No. We're not made of money."

Roy dropped his kicked-puppy look and laughed. "Alright, alright. I was just joking. I was just wondering what you would say is all. Besides, getting a blimp will probably cost us more than our life's savings."

Link rolled his eyes. "So what was your real idea?"

Roy poked at the lemon as a faint blush settled over his cheeks. "Well, I could pretend to be Pit and call Ike and confess. Of course…we'd have to tell Pit afterwards, for when Ike confronts him about it…"

Link nodded, writing the idea down. He looked at the paper for a few seconds in thought. "Well, we could go ahead and try these ideas out first, one by one. If none of them work, well, we'll have to come up with more."

Roy looked at the list and winced. "Which one first?" He asked, desperately hoping whatever they tried first worked.

"Er…" Link fished a coin out of his pocket. "Let's flip."

.:~:.

"Ready?"

Link glared. Then he sighed, looking at Ike and Pit from around the tree. "As I'll ever be."

Roy nodded, a smile plastered over his face. "So, go in, push, get the hell out of there before they notice, and hopefully the mission will be accomplished."

Link shook his head. "You make it sound so easy."

Roy seemed to ignore him. He suddenly moved, pushed Link forward, and said, "Now!"

Link stumbled out, shouldered his bag, and made it seem as if he was trying to find something in his bag. Attention focused on his bag, he 'accidentally' bumped into Ike, muttered a quick apology and rushed off to hide behind another conveniently placed tree.

Ike and Pit were standing just so, that as Ike was bumped, it created a mini domino effect, and being less aware, Pit started falling backwards. Ike managed to grab hold of Pit in time, pulling him upward into a hug. However, to the disappointment of Roy and Link, Ike quickly let go after checking if Pit was okay, and, disregarding the brilliant shade of pink Pit's face and turned, looked around for whoever had bumped into him.

After Pit glanced around as well, he said, "Never mind, it was just an accident anyways."

Ike nodded reluctantly, but convinced Pit that they should go some place else.

Roy could just hear a loud voice proclaim "FAILURE!" at him.

Once the two were out of earshot, Link went back to find Roy sulking behind the tree. "Well, we weren't really expecting the first try to work, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively. "What's next?"

Link pulled the folded paper out of his pocket along with the coin. "Well…"

.:~:.

Roy let out an ungainly squeak as he leaned against the door. He would have sworn that Ike just tried to kick the door down in-between his enraged threats and curses. He glared at Link for ever having this idea. "What are you laughing at?!" he hissed.

Link coughed. "Was I laughing?"

Roy was about to retort, when there was a sudden calm behind the door.

"…Is the door really locked?" Pit asked.

The knob jiggled. "…yeah…"

There was another heart pounding silence as Roy tentatively backed away from the door and hid behind a potted plant with Link right next to the door.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah!" Pit's voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"…Alright…" Ike responded, skeptical.

It was just their luck as Marth came walking down the hall, and heard the last part of the exchange. His expression was nothing short of showing his thoughts, "What the hell?" He hesitantly walked up to the door, knocked, and said, "Ike?"

"Yeah? Marth?" Ike responded cautiously.

"What…are you doing in a closet?" Marth was almost afraid to ask.

"That's what I would like to know!" Ike replied angrily. "I swear some bastard is out to get us."

Before Marth could ask "Who's 'us?'" Pit interrupted, quietly saying, "Don't be so loud." Ah. Then, more loudly, Pit asked, "Could you unlock the door for us?"

"Um…" Marth looked around. Perhaps the keys were around here? He doubted it, and was starting to think looking for a custodian would be a better idea until he found a key lying in the dirt that held the plant. Marth unlocked the door and quickly stepped to the side as Ike and Pit came tumbling out.

After dusting themselves off and shoving everything back into the closet and closing the door, Pit said, "Thanks. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come along."

Ike nodded and mumbled thanks as well.

Marth smiled. "No problem."

A few awkward seconds passed by before Pit said that they should get going and pulled Ike along with him as he left. Marth started going the opposite way as well, leaving the key in the pot, but he happened to spot a certain redhead.

"…Roy?"

Roy sheepishly lowered a leaf of the plant and waved. "Hey."

Marth then noticed Link trying to appear as small as possible, and against his better judgment, he asked, "What are you two up to?"

Smiling nervously with the expression of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar, he gave Marth a quick 'hello' kiss. "That, milord, is confidential."

Marth flicked his forehead. "Don't start with me."

"Ow! But, Marth!" He whined.

Much more composed, Link came out from behind the plant as well. Knowing that beating around the bush was a complete waist of time, he explained, "To put it simply, we're playing matchmaker."

Marth blinked as he looked back and forth between the two. "…Come again?"

Rubbing his forehead, Roy said, "We're trying to get Ike to realize he likes Pit."

"_Why_?"

Roy frowned and mumbled, "Because he's a stubborn prick who won't realize it on his own. Not in our lifetime anyways."

Link rolled his eyes at the crude explanation. "We're just helping them out. It'll be a lot better once Ike realizes his feelings." Link then shrugged. "Roy's probably being a little possessive as well."

"Am not!" Roy shouted indignantly.

There was a pause as Marth decided whether to get involved or not. He chose the latter, and said, "Whatever. Don't cause trouble." He started to leave, but in mid-step remembered something, turned around, gave Roy a small 'goodbye' kiss, and walked off.

Roy smiled, despite their second attempt being a failure, and looked at Link. "So what's next?" He asked, clearly in denial.

Link silently showed him the paper. "What you so graciously suggested."

"Ah, the blimp?"

"No."

"Aw, damn."

.:~:.

Roy sat cross-legged on the grass, hiding in the shade of a tree from the harsh rays of the sun. He nervously played with Pit's stolen cell phone. "Do I have to?"

Link frowned, irritated. He'd gone through a lot to steal that phone. "You'd better! You suggested it, and it took me forever to swipe his phone."

Roy's finger hovered over the call button. He gulped nervously and said, "I can't do it with you right here!"

"I won't laugh, I swear. Just call before Pit notices his phone is missing."

"You swear?"

Link nodded. "Seriously."

Roy took a deep breath and hit the button. After a few rings, Ike picked up.

"Hello?"

Roy adjusted his voice, feverishly hoping that it would work, and shakily said, "Hey, do you have a moment?"

"Sure."

He swallowed again, and continued, trying to block out Link who was anxiously holding his breath, trying to listen to the conversation. They wouldn't risk putting the phone on speaker. "I…I like you a lot…I have for a while."

The phone clattered on the floor as it was dropped, and Ike quickly picked it up. "What?!"

"Please don't make me say it again."

Ike sighed. "Are you alright?"

Roy couldn't believe it. This was a total waste! Reeling in his irritation, Roy replied, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm going to go check up on you. You've been funny these past several days."

Roy panicked. "No!" Roy calmed himself and said, "I mean, no. It's alright, really. You don't have to bother with it. I'm fine." He laughed nervously. "Sorry for calling. I don't know why I said that. I'll see you later."

Reluctantly, Ike said, "Alright…But if you're really sick, be prepared for a lecture."

The dial tone rung in his ear as Ike hung up. Roy hung up as well and let his head hang as he sulked, "FAILURE!" ringing in his ears.

Link patted him on the back. "Hey, we better go tell Pit."

"Yeah, alright."

.:~:.

"You guys did _what_?" Pit nearly screamed in panic. He refrained the urge to chuck his newly returned phone at Link's head. Those idiots! "_Why_?"

Roy gently took Pit by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Hey, hey, calm down. Okay, I admit it was stupid for us to do it, but it's all for the better. We're just trying to get Ike to realize his feelings for you."

"That's just it, though! What if he _doesn't_ like me that way?"

Roy's stomach churned. He hadn't felt this guilty in a long while. He gently brushed a stray tear from Pit's face. Before he could say anything, Link said, "Pit, trust us, okay?"

Pit pulled away, sat down on his bed and leaned down with his head between his legs. He had felt a wave of dizziness pass through him. "…okay…" He waited for his head to clear, and then added, "But if you guys are wrong, I'll never forgive you."

Link and Roy nodded simultaneously, suddenly realizing they'd been playing around in a radioactive waste facility without a hazmat suit on.

.:~:.

Roy slumped down in his seat, doodling on the paper that had their failed attempts written on them. Link was staring past him through the windows at the streets. What else could they do?

As Zelda dropped off their drinks she noticed the cloud of depression and self-pity surrounding them. Intrigued, she pulled up a chair and joined the table. Her break just started anyways. "What's up?"

"We're trying to get a blockhead to realize that he likes someone who likes him already," Roy muttered to the paper.

"We've pathetically failed multiple times," Link added.

"Why don't you just get the both of them and tell them to their faces?" Zelda suggested without much trouble.

Both of their eyes brightened as grins broke out on their faces.

"Thanks, Zelda," Link said.

Roy nodded quickly. "Yeah, you're a genius!"

Zelda laughed. "Really now, it was nothing." She glanced at the clock. "Break's over." Before she left the table to get back to work, she asked, "By the way, who's the blockhead?"

Roy winked as Link started getting out another paper. "We'll tell you if it works out."

"I'll be waiting," she said, smiling as she returned to her job.

Silently, Roy grabbed the paper and started writing. This had better work.

.:~:.

Pit handed him an envelope.

Ike put down his chopsticks and took the envelope questioningly. "What's this?"

Pit shrugged as he sat across from Ike at the small table in his room. "Link told me to give it to you."

Ike carefully opened the envelope and took out the paper inside and looked at it curiously. Ike's cheeks turned a marvelous shade of pink as he quickly scanned the letter.

Nervous, Pit asked, "What is it?"

Head lowered to the floor, Ike pushed the paper across the table. Abandoning his lunch in favor of the paper, Pit read it with interest. It was a combination of writing from Roy and Link, but that wasn't what was interesting.

**Dearest Ike and Pit,  
As your friends, we can no longer silently stand on the sidelines and watch. It is very clear to us that you two adore each other very much. Ike, you blockhead, you've got to have realized this by now. Grow some balls and confront it like a man. Pit, you too! What's life without risk? Damn boring if you ask me.**_  
Please excuse Roy's uncouth way of stating things. However, I agree wholeheartedly with his thoughts. Ike, you like Pit, and no amount of denial is going to change that. Pit, although I understand where you're coming from, you've got to take some chances. What happened to the Pit that blurted out the comment that catalyzed this whole thing? (I'm NOT saying this is your fault, however. We've already established that.)  
_**Okay, yeah, this has probably made things awkward, but hey! Don't let us do the confessing for you, 'cause we can't. Just…Just do **_**something**_** about it, alright? It's killing us.  
**_Bottom line?  
Ike, you like Pit, a heck of a lot more than you think.  
Pit, you like Ike, however, Ike has yet to realize this. You probably need to show him.  
_**Your good friends who will probably throw themselves off a cliff if this doesn't work,  
Roy **_and__Link_

Pit's face took on the semblance of a tomato. Show him? What was that supposed to mean? He turned the paper over so the blank side was facing up and put it back on the table – where it continued to laugh and mock them.

There was a stretched, awkward silence.

Quietly, cautiously, Ike finally asked, "…Is this supposed to be funny?"

Pit stared at the table for a little longer. What was he supposed to say to that? He looked up and was startled by slate blue eyes. His first impulse was to jump back, look down, it didn't matter, just to do _something_ to break that oddly piercing gaze.

…Show him?

In the blink of an eye, Pit found himself lip locked with Ike. Pit pulled back slowly before he could have a mental meltdown, and tried to meet Ike's averted gaze as he answered the question verbally. "No."


	8. Into the Fryer

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

Ike could only blink as shock slowly settled in. "No?"

Pit shook his head. "No. It's not a joke."

Ike sat in silence, staring at the table as he thought. Did he really…? He shook his head, not wanting to think about it – at least not right now. He looked up to meet Pit's gaze. "Sorry, I honestly don't know right now."

Pit allowed a small smile to cross his face, although unsure whether it was forced or not. "Alright." It was better than a straight, flat out 'No,' right? "Just don't forget about it?"

"I won't." Ike looked up to the ceiling. "I just need to think about it." And think he would. Just…later. Much later. Although… "Can I ask you something?"

Pit decided nothing worse could happen so he simply said, "Sure."

"How long?"

Wondering how the information could possibly help, Pit was almost shrugged and said, "I don't know," but he caught it before it left his mouth. He honestly paused to try to think about it, but for these kinds of things, once he accepted it, when it started hardly mattered to him, and so it was forgotten. So after giving it a considerable amount of thought, Pit could confidently say, "I have no clue. Well, if I could give my best guess…really, several months at the least."

Ike leaned back in silent thought. That was quite a while. But more importantly, why did he want to know? It wasn't as if that would affect his decision about this whole mess. Or, more correctly, it shouldn't.

"Well, no use thinking about it now," Pit cheerfully said. "We were going to work on the project, right?"

"Right," Ike agreed, not willing to admit out loud he had completely forgotten why they had been meeting in the first place – even though his textbook was sitting right in front of him. He threw the envelope and letter onto his bed, opened his textbook to some random page, and started eating again. "So what was it on again?"

.:~:.

Roy slumped into his chair as he stared at the ice cubes floating innocently in his glass of water. "So, how's it been going?" he asked Link a while after, finally deciding to interrupt the blond from whatever he was reading.

Link stuck a bookmark into his book and set it down. "Not too well, I'm afraid. Ike seems to be avoiding Pit. The only time I've seen them talking to each other is because they have a project for history or something." Link half shrugged. "I don't know what happened, but it's awkward between them now."

"Great," Roy muttered. "What now?"

Zelda invited herself into their conversation and pulled up a chair to their table. "It didn't work?"

Roy shook his head and Link replied, "No."

"Darn. I was looking forward to finding out who you're so desperate to hook up," Zelda frowned. She kept her disappointment for a few more seconds before smiling slyly. "So, what's it this time?"

Roy and Link both shrugged helplessly. Link answered, "There doesn't seem to be anything else left to do. Perhaps it just has to develop on its own."

Roy sighed, ran his hand irritably through his hair and stood up. "As lovely as this chat has been, I think we're going to have to postpone this project for a while and see if it snowballs, just like Link said. I have a delightful essay that doesn't seem to want to write itself."

Roy was able to take a total of one and a half steps before he tripped over a leg of the table. His arm immediately shot out to brace his fall, and upon impacting with the ground, he heard a rather audible snap. He was allowed a brief second to hope that he'd been imagining the sound before pain shot up his arm. "Aw crap," he managed to say through his clenched jaw.

.:~:.

"Ike, I need you to drive me to the hospital."

Ike stared at Marth for a good few seconds, utterly baffled. Then, he noticed the way Marth was struggling to keep his composure and how his face was noticeably paler. He frowned in concern and confusion. "What's wrong?" He didn't wait for an answer as he made sure he had his keys in his pocket after he put the computer to sleep and shut off the monitor. He was already out into the hallway and locking the door before Marth answered.

"Link called and said Roy got into some sort of accident that caused him to go to the hospital."

They were just short of jogging as they made their way to Ike's car. "What? When?"

Marth shrugged and frowned. "A couple of hours ago."

Ike was about to ask why Link would wait so long to call, but figured Marth already asked that to himself and so the question would be pointless. With nothing else to say on the matter (other than asking where the heck he was driving to) Ike kept quiet, resulting on a tense silence between the two even upon entering the hospital. All either of them could think of was how serious the accident could have been.

As soon as he entered the building, Marth had to resist marching straight up to the receptionist and questioning her – even if the lobby was relatively empty. As he approached the desk, he noticed that Peach happened to be the receptionist.

"Hey, Peach–"

"Sorry, I can't let you see him right now," Peach said, an apologetic smile on her face.

Marth's eyes widened. "Is it really that bad?"

"I don't know, Marth. I'm sorry. I was just told that he could have no visitors at the moment."

Marth, resisting the urge to act like a child, simply thanked her and pulled away from the desk to pace around the room. "Do you think it's serious?" he asked Ike after a while.

Ike, who had been standing still, painfully watching Marth walk back and forth, was startled out of his own musings. He wanted nothing at that moment but to just get Marth to calm down, but was having trouble thinking of ways to accomplish such a task without any bodily contact. "Honestly? I have no clue. I don't think Link would be pulling any crap on us," Ike said as he thought of a previous attempt at intervention, "Because he's got to know how much this is going to affect you."

Marth nodded in agreement, but had a frown on his face. "But he didn't give any specifics. I hardly qualify 'getting into an accident' as enough information for me to know whether or not he's going to be okay."

After watching Marth nervously move back and forth a few more times, Ike had had enough and grabbed him by the shoulders, effectively halting him. "Calm down. Let's just trust Link enough to know what he's doing, alright?" As disastrous as that might be, Ike added silently.

Marth did seem to try to calm down, but he was still fidgety, his hands going to play with anything they could get a grip on (which happened to currently be the drawstring of his jacket hood).

Holding in a sigh, against his better judgment, Ike pulled Marth closer into what didn't quite qualify as a hug, but was still a loose embrace. "He'll be alright."

Marth had tensed at the beginning of the 'hug', but found himself unable to resist the comforting warmth for long and relaxed into the embrace. "You can't say that for sure."

Before Ike could reply with "I just know so" or something equally as ridiculous, Pit rushed in, quickly approaching the two.

"I just heard. How is he?" He asked with the gasping breaths he took.

Startled, Marth pulled away from Ike and went to make Pit sit down. "Did you run all the way over here?"

After Pit was able to breathe normally, he thought of saying "No, are you crazy?" but given the delicate circumstances, he withheld such comments. "No, I managed to get a ride from Zelda after class. It helped that she was looking for me. Link called just moments before we found each other. But enough on how I got here; do you know what happened?"

Marth shook his head. "No. Link didn't tell you either?"

"No. Zelda said she didn't know either. Do you at least know if he's okay?"

Ike and Marth shared a glance before Marth simply replied, "No. They won't let anyone see him."

Ike was quick to notice that Pit was probably going to repeat the frantic pacing episode and quickly squashed that move before it ever happened. He sat down in the chair next to Pit and soothingly held one of his hands. "He'll be alright," Ike repeated.

Marth chose to remain standing, shifting nervously every few seconds or so. He allowed the brief thought of "Oh, they succeeded?" to pass through his mind before worry overtook it.

Whether the next few silence-filled minutes felt like twenty, thirty, or even sixty to the trio, they were exactly that: a few minutes. After those few minutes, Link finally appeared from one of the hallways and took his sweet time walking over. Marth silently glared and went to meet Link halfway, nowhere near happy with the blond's slow gait.

Before Link could even think about saying anything, Marth asked, "Is he alright?"

Link motioned with his head over his shoulder and answered, "Go see for yourself."

"But–"

Link cut him off by grabbing his hand and leading him down the hallway. He motioned to Pit and Ike and said, "Come on."

As the four stood in the elevator, Marth found it as good a time to ask a question as any. "I thought no one could see him?"

Link looked at Marth like he had no idea what he was talking about. "Who said that?"

Marth gave him a strange look. "Peach did…?"

Link was saved from having to answer as the elevator 'dinged' and the doors slid open. He quickly walked down the hall, escaping Marth's suspicious gaze. Instead of an answer, he said, "It's just down over here," and pointed around a corner.

As soon as Link touched the door, Marth was there to brush past him into the room. He rushed up to the bed Roy was sitting on and almost started bombarding him with questions until he took notice of the scene. Roy was pretty much conscious and sitting on the side of the bed, looking at Marth in a mixture of surprise and amusement (however that worked). Then Marth noticed the cast wrapped around his hand and forearm.

Slowly, not really wanting to ask, Marth looked Roy in the face and asked, "You broke your wrist?"

Roy nervously glanced at Link when he saw Marth's expression, which was just _daring_ him to say yes. Roy coughed and said, "I tripped."

"You tripped," Marth repeated, not quite sure how to react to that.

Roy nodded. "Over a table leg."

Marth turned around and glared at Link. "Why couldn't you tell me that?!"

Link ducked behind the doctor who indignantly said, "Don't bring me into this."

"Ah…some of it was my idea too," Roy quietly muttered, taking pity on Link.

"…You?"

"Er…" Roy shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "Well, it was an accident, really it was, I mean, who would go breaking their wrist on purpose? But then, I started thinking…This could be the perfect opportunity to…" Roy waved his good arm in the direction of Ike and Pit who were hovering by the door, hoping not to get in the way of Marth's wrath.

Marth grabbed Roy by the collar, pulling him slightly off of the bed. "How could you do that to me?! I was so worried that it was something serious! And not just me, Ike and Pit were really worried too!"

"It was my idea, really." Link spoke up, still ducking behind the doctor who was trying to remove himself from the whole situation. "Roy just agreed to go with it."

Marth turned his head to glower at the blond and was starting to retort angrily but was abruptly interrupted. Roy had awkwardly wrapped his arms around Marth and pulled him down into his lap and hugged him, allowing Marth to press his face against his shoulder. Marth's breaths came out raggedly as he tried to calm himself, returning the embrace and resisting the urge to kick both of those idiots to oblivion and back. As his shoulders shook, it took Roy a few seconds to realize that Marth was crying.

Roy gently threaded his fingers through sapphire locks. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"You'd better be…" Marth replied as he struggled to keep his crying silent.

"I'm sorry, I really am."

Marth pulled back and kissed Roy, pouring all his relief and disappointment and anger into it. As soon as the shock went away, Roy responded just as passionately, silently apologizing over and over again.

"Okay, okay, break it up. This is a hospital, not a love hotel." The doctor lightly hit the back of his clipboard against Roy's head.

Roy grinned sheepishly at the doctor after he pulled away, but refused to let Marth go. After weakly attempting to release himself from Roy's embrace, Marth reluctantly resigned, resting his head against Roy's shoulder.

"I'm not talking to you two."

"But, Marth!" Roy frantically started before he was silenced by a menacing glare.

"So, just as a reminder," Dr. Mario started, ignoring them as if this happened every day, "You're going to have to come in for regular check ups for two weeks, and don't forget about those exercises. Other than that, you're free to go. I'll see you next week. Don't go tripping over more tables." The doctor left the room after that, muttering something about 'clumsy idiots.'

Marth unwillingly pulled away from Roy and stood, stepping back to allow Roy room to stand. As soon as the redhead did stand, he pulled Marth back into a hug.

There was an awkward silence as the five of them stood in front of the elevator, waiting for it to reach their floor. Quite suddenly, Ike smacked Roy upside the head. "Idiot."

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot."

Roy rubbed his head with his good arm, scowling at Ike. "Gee thanks."

Pit looked at Ike, slight disapproval showing on his face. "Don't be so harsh. I mean…after all…" A blush dusted his cheeks as he clammed up.

Ike looked at Pit, confused and wondering why he had suddenly gone silent. "What are you ta–oh…"

Needless to say, it was an awkward car ride (Ike, being the only person who had their car with them, had to cram the five of them into the vehicle) first to Roy's apartment, then back to the café so Link could fetch Roy's car, then finally back to their dorms.

Marth had stayed behind to help Roy out, Link was going to help out too after returning the car, and Marth and Link would then ride the train back the next day, so that left Ike and Pit in an awkward silence as they went back to their dorms.

"So…"

"So…"

"Rough day, huh?" Pit started uneasily.

"Yeah," Ike answered quickly.

"Do you wanna…er…talk about…?"

Ike blushed as they came to a stop in the moderate traffic and he determinedly stared out into the street. "Well…seeing as we're not going anywhere any time soon…"

Pit looked down to the floor of the car trying to hide his own quickly reddening cheeks. "What…How…" Pit tried to start a few times before he found his tongue. "What are your feelings towards Marth? I mean…Well, I saw you two before I rushed in…"

Ike had to think back to what was happening at the time. Oh. The 'hug.' Then he thought about how he had felt. What did he really feel towards Marth? There had been that attraction, yes, but now that he thought about it, it wasn't really there anymore. He had hugged Marth out of concern as a good friend, but nothing more. There wasn't anything he was trying to gain out of it, except to calm Marth down, to reassure him. He voiced this to Pit.

"Oh…" Pit glanced out of the window, nervous and embarrassed at the same time. "What…What about me?" he mumbled.

Ike gripped the wheel tightly, reminding himself to _not_ jam the brakes, or do anything else crazy that would likely get them into an accident. "I…well…" Ike went silent as he thought. Then he thought out loud, wondering in the back of his mind whether he was making any sense at all. "I think I like you. Well, I'm not sure. I mean, you're a great friend and you're always there. I always knew that I trusted you the most, and I always would go to you with my problems. Then I wondered for a moment whether it was troubling you, if it was a hassle to be telling you all my insignificant problems.

"I always wonder that now, if you dislike having us go to you with our problems all the time, in the back of my mind. Then, somewhere along the line, I noticed how I, well, excuse the sappiness, but I noticed how I just liked being around you. And er…I'm not sure if you remember, but a while back, I told you that I liked your voice, and I wasn't lying.

"I just…I like being around you. It feels nice. I guess…I don't know. I just know it makes me happy to even see you." Ike shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "I don't know what else to say. I'm rambling and I don't even know if I'm making any sense. I think I'll just…shut up now. What am I feeling?"

Pit smiled, and Ike would have sworn that he was glowing. "Thanks. That's all I needed to hear."

Ike raised an eyebrow, wondering what Pit had decoded from that mush of words, but didn't say anything, from fear of ruining it. He just gave his own smile, happy that Pit was so glad, and would readily say and/or repeat whatever he needed to to keep that stunning smile on Pit's face.


	9. White Hearts

_Author's Note: I apologize for the impromptu hiatus, but I was feeling swamped by all my summer homework and had to take a break. Then getting my schedule for this year and speaking with my GLC put me into a bad mood, so I couldn't really write. However, seeing as I have managed to find the time to, I will write now, before I run out of time again. However, as I have band camp the next two weeks and school will be starting right after, the updates will no longer be every week. I will put up the regular update schedule once I figure out what it is. Thank you, and enjoy the (awkward) fluff. :)  
Flower info from: iflorist . com (remove the spaces)  
--NarutoKyuu_

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

As soon as Pit opened the door to the room, the smell of chocolate overwhelmed him. He liked chocolate as much as the next person, but this was just too much. Frantically, he looked around the room as he closed the door, searching for the cause of the smell.

He blinked in mild shock. Littered about the room was a multitude of chocolates and other gifts, in containers of all shapes, sizes, and colors. He carefully picked his way around the sweets to his bed and set down his own bag of gifts.

Then, he spotted Link calmly working on an essay under the open window.

"These are all yours?" Pit asked in shock.

"Hm?" Link looked up. "Hey, Pit. Yeah. Sorry about the mess. It's just that there's so many of them, I don't know what to do about it."

Pit winced appreciatively. "That's alright. There's…quite a lot…"

"Oh. Yeah. I help people a lot, you know? They're, um, gratuity gifts?"

Pit couldn't help but laugh at Link's lost expression, a blush tinting the blond's cheeks. Some of them certainly didn't _look _like the average "gratuity gift." Hesitantly, the brunet asked, "How many…are you planning to, er, repay?"

Link withheld a sigh as he gazed forlornly about the room. "I don't know. That's a lot of money." Link set his work to the side as he seemed to gain some new energy. "Well, that's enough about me and my sorry ass. What about you?"

Pit silently held up the bag to the left of him.

"Ah, not about that. Did you give it to him yet?"

Pit blushed and suddenly found a little green bag in front of him very interesting. "What are you talking about?"

Link sighed. "Well, I think he'll appreciate it, either way. Goodness knows that he'll never think of it himself."

Pit frowned and glared at the little green bag. "It's just…it's _embarrassing_."

"Hey, you didn't hear from me, but if Marth could do it, so can you."

Pit, shoving the surprise from his mind, argued, "But that's Marth you're talking about."

"Stop being such a baby about it."

"Augh." Pit gave up and headed for the door, grabbing the little green bag on his way out. "Lucky you with your courtesy chocolates," he grumbled back before slamming the door shut.

He bid farewell to his dignity as he looked for Ike.

.:~:.

Pit quietly stole into the library and looked around. Walking up and down shelves upon shelves, he finally found Ike at a solitary table, under a window. Pit smiled mischievously, snuck up behind the blue-haired man, and threw his arms around his neck in a loose embrace.

Ike startled, half-growled, and started saying, "Pika, I swear if you don't leave me alone–" but stopped in his tracks as he heard Pit laugh quietly.

In mock anger, Pit pouted and said, "You mistook me for Pika? How could you?"

"Sorry, Pit. It's just that that irritating, little pest has been bugging me all day," he muttered as pink tinted his face at the close proximity of their faces.

Pit pulled back slightly, reminded of the reason he was so nervous in the first place. Although Pit could have died from happiness when Ike had suggested they go out, from then on Ike had been extremely awkward getting used to the idea of them being a couple.

"Can I talk to you outside? It won't take long, so you can leave your stuff here and get back to it afterwards."

Curious, Ike replied, "Sure," and allowed himself to be led outside.

As they stood to the side of the building Pit couldn't ignore all the other 'lovey' stuff going on. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably and he fumbled with the bag in his hands. When he noticed Ike eyeing the bag with subdued interest, his courage swelled. Before he could lose his nerve again, Pit silently thrust the bag forward and muttered, "It's for you."

Realization dawned on him and Ike smiled. He gently took Pit's chin, tilted his face upward, and softly kissed him. Ike pulled away before Pit could respond and he gently brushed the backs of his fingers against a flushed cheek.

"Thanks."

"You're…you're welcome." Pit ducked his head as his face got redder. "Um…well, I'll…I'll see you later?"

"Yeah," he replied just as awkwardly, taking the small bag. He paused on his way back to the library, remembering something. "Oh, what do you want to eat?"

"Anything's fine. We're going to be working anyways so…so…not too much…" Pit's voice trailed off. "That sounds so lame, huh?"

Ike smiled. "Yeah, but hey! Who cares?"

Pit returned the smile. "Yeah." He gave Ike a quick peck on the cheek before he ran off. "See you later."

Ike could only grunt in reply before he went back into the library in a daze. And Pit expected him to start working again after that?

.:~:.

Almost exactly a month later, Ike could be found having a panic attack and taking it out on his poor roommate.

"Ike, for goodness' sake, _calm down_." Marth had to keep himself from shouting.

Really now, he couldn't even put his bag down before Ike had started rambling and ranting at him. Marth couldn't even understand any of the words spouting out of the taller man's lips except that he was supposed to help somehow. Yeah.

Ike shut up and stared, although he was obviously far from calm. That was okay, Marth told himself, as long has he wasn't a babbling idiot. He sighed and sat on his bed. "Okay. So, calmly this time, what am I supposed to be helping you with?"

Ike pointed to the messy calendar they shared.

Marth looked at the date he was pointing at and had to choke down his laughter. "White Day?" Marth never expected to be asked to help with that particular day, especially not from Ike.

Ike mutely nodded and Marth could almost see his dignity give out a last squeak before it was squished gone.

"For…Pit?"

Ike nodded again.

"Well…er…You can look with me when I go shopping tomorrow?"

"What are you getting for Roy?"

"Ah…er…he's the one that's…uhm…"

"Ah, sorry."

"That's okay…"

"So you're just getting…courtesy gifts?"

"Yeah, so are you going to go with me?"

"Sure…"

.:~:.

The next day found the two young men looking lost in the doorway of a flower shop. After much debate, they had decided to go into the flower shop first, in an attempt to find something of meaning. However, upon entering the warm air of the shop and being greeted by the sweet smell of flowers, both realized they knew absolutely nothing about flowers.

"Ike? Marth? I never thought I'd see you guys here."

"Samus?" Ike asked in surprise.

"I didn't know you worked here," Marth added.

Samus laughed. "You two look a little lost. Need some help? There's no one else here, so I can use all my time to help you two."

Marth and Ike stepped in, glancing around the shop in wonder. Flowers were _everywhere_, and they came in every possible shape, color, and size.

As Ike stepped forward to accept a rather thick catalog from Samus, Marth said, "White Day's only a few days away. I thought there would be more people."

Samus shrugged. "From what I know, people usually come in the day before, so you can take all the time you need."

Marth nodded absently as he joined Ike in looking at the various flowers in the catalog.

"So who are the flowers for?"

"Pit," Ike answered, too focused at looking at the various flowers and their meanings to realize the implications of his answer.

"Oh, really…that's interesting," Samus muttered to herself as she left the counter to browse the store. "Come find me if you need me. I'm going to go look for something."

Ike could only make a sound of affirmation and Marth smiled. Ike was really serious about this.

An hour or so later, Samus came back just when Ike had finally chosen. He looked up in time to see her wave a single flower in front of him.

"This?" she asked before he said anything.

He stared at the white camellia in shock. "Yeah."

Samus laughed and smiled. "So do you want a bouquet of them?"

"No. Just one."

Samus' brow rose in mild surprise as she rang in the order on the register. "Just one. So you'll come and pick one up on the day of, I suppose?"

Ike nodded. "I'll get here early. Hopefully to avoid the hassle."

"Do you want a vase?"

"Just a simple one," Ike said after he thought.

Samus nodded, adding that in. "What about you, Marth?"

"Hm?" Marth looked up from a particular flower that had caught his attention. "None, thank you."

Samus smiled. "Is that so…"

Marth silently nodded and looked back down at the catalog as Ike paid.

_Camellia, white – You're adorable._

Marth laughed quietly to himself.

"Was something funny?" Ike asked as they walked out.

"_You're adorable_."

Ike had the grace to blush. "Shut up."

"Okay, okay." Marth smiled and tried to save face. "I think he'll like it, anyhow."

Ike just nodded.

.:~:.

A few days later, Marth was walking to his room, minding his own business, when he was promptly pounced on. He turned around to receive a mouthful of Roy and couldn't help but respond. They pulled away minutes later, both of them panting lightly and Marth was left in a warm haze.

Roy graciously presented a small bouquet of flowers. "For you, my prince."

Marth silently took the bouquet and tried to identify the flowers as a blush made itself known on his cheeks. He thought he might as well put to use that hour of practically loitering in a flower shop. "Arbutus…Hibiscus…and…umm…Blue salvias?"

Roy smiled. "Yeah. Do you know what they mean?"

Marth hummed in thought, trying to remember. "Not exactly."

Roy blushed. "Well, the arbutuses, they mean '_Thee only do I love'_; the hibiscuses, mean _delicate beauty_; and the blue salvias…" He grinned. "_I think of you_."

Marth smiled. "A little cliché, but not overly so." He gently gave Roy a short kiss. "I love you, too."

Roy laughed. "I wanted to get spider flowers too, alas, the lady wouldn't let me. She thought it was 'brash, unsophisticated, tasteless' and all of these other things."

Marth joined his laughter and kissed him again. He remembered the meaning of that flower bright and clear. It was so overly ridiculous to him; he couldn't help but memorize the meaning. "I hate to disappoint you, Roy, but here will be no eloping going on any time soon."

"Aw, damn."

Marth smiled. "Do I get chocolate?"

Roy hugged him close, careful not to crush the flowers. He brought his lips to Marth's ear and whispered, "If you'll share."

Marth blushed and a tiny smirk formed on his lips. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

.:~:.

Ike unlocked the door to Pit's room nervously. He couldn't rid himself of the creepy feeling that he was some sort of stalker as he entered the room, cradling the vase with the one camellia in one hand. He also had a small bag of hard candy that he remembered Pit mentioning one day.

He shut the door behind him and tried to decide where to put the items. As soon as the vase made a small thud as he placed it on the table in the middle of the room, Ike heard the lock turn and the door open.

He froze as Pit asked, "Ike? How'd you get in here?"

Ike silently held up the key he had borrowed from Link, trying to hide the flower and the bag as he turned around.

"From Link?" Pit asked, still trying to understand how Ike had come to stand in front of him, right in the middle of his room.

Ike nodded.

Pit noticed that Ike was obviously trying to hide something, and a sly smile appeared on his face. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"Well, you obviously came in here to do something, having gone through the trouble of borrowing a key and all. You haven't thrown me against the wall or bed or anything obscene like that, and you look like you have something there, so what is it?"

Ike remained indecisive for a moment before he brought his hands out from behind his back and showed Pit the flower and the little blue bag. "For you."

"Is that…a camellia?" Pit asked in surprise.

Ike nodded, looking at everything in the room but Pit.

Pit smiled, face turning red. He placed the items on the table and hugged Ike. "It's a bit embarrassing, but I like it. Thank you."

Ike returned the embrace as he asked, "You know the meaning?"

Pit nodded then laughed. "I'm not sure whether to be happy or annoyed that you think of me like that."

Ike smiled and kissed him. "You could be both."

Pit returned the gentle embrace. "How would that work?"

Ike shrugged. "You'll come up with a way."

Pit smiled and shook his head. "Again…I'm both flattered and offended."

"You know, behind that innocent face you have a very devious mind."

Pit grinned. "Will you stop that?!"

Ike smiled innocently. "Stop what?"

"Trying to make me happy and upset with you at the same time. You know what I mean!"

Ike kissed him again. "Alright."


	10. The Holidays are for Lovin'

_Author's Note: Well, this story will most likely STILL be on hiatus (I'm terribly sorry) because I realized with my current schedule I have absolutely no time to do anything BUT schoolwork and the SLIGHT occasional procrastinating, so, I really am sorry for having to put this story on hiatus for probably the next YEAR, until summer break comes again. I'm truly sorry.  
On another note, this'll be a little holiday gift for everyone, to show that I haven't abandoned this yet either.  
On yet another note, I noticed in chapter 4, Ike's pen randomly transforms into a pencil and back. Because I can do that. XD  
--NarutoKyuu_

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

After Marth had taken off his shoes and quietly went to the kitchen to store the groceries away, he noticed something odd while putting the cereal away in the cupboard because he had just happened to glance through the little window the kitchen bar made where there would have been a wall. When he had left to hopefully not get lost on his way to the store (his incredible lack of a sense of direction tended to do that to him), Roy had been hiding in his room, furiously yelling at the computer. Now, Roy was sitting in the living room, surrounded by a sea, no, an ocean of, Marth looked a bit more closely, arms still poised to put the cereal box away, was that _wrapping paper_?

Roy, noticing Marth's stare, looked up from the abhorrent (in Marth's mind) mess and met Marth's gaze. "Hey."

"…Hey…" Marth unsurely replied as he finally placed the box of cereal into its new home.

"You didn't get lost, did you?"

Still confused and wondering if he should be worried, Marth slowly replied, "No, I found it just fine."

Roy smiled. "That's good," then he looked around. A panicked expression washed over his face. "Link? Were you eaten up by the garlands again?"

Link, whose usual green attire wasn't helping much, sat up and said, "Nope, I'm fine."

Roy nodded. "That's good. I was scared, for a moment."

Marth only increasingly grew worried. Garlands didn't eat people…did they? Cautiously, he asked, "Do I want to know?"

"Maybe…" Roy said as he carefully stood up and walked over to the "little window", as he affectionately called it. "So, you know how I went back home for a few days?"

Marth nodded, absently noting that he should have put the juice in the refrigerator _before_ asking about his lover's antics.

"Well, I was helping clean out the basement, and I found all of this. Since we never even used them when I was around, I decided to bring them over here."

Marth looked back at the mess and noticed some neatly stacked boxes off to the side. "And you decided you just _had_ to make a mess out of it, too?"

Roy grinned as he sat down on one of the barstools. "I didn't, they did," he said as he pointed in the general vicinity of the mess he called a living room.

"LIES!"

Concerned, Marth looked back at the pile of mess. He could have sworn that was Pit's voice, but he saw no sign of the brunet. Then he looked back to Roy, asking for an explanation.

Roy shrugged. "He's somewhere in there. The decorations are alive, I swear. Link's already been eaten three times by the garlands, Pit was attacked by the ornaments, and I think a wreath tried to immobilize Ike."

"That's stupid, Roy." Despite his words, he gave the decorations a wary glance and subconsciously leaned away. "Now, if you'll excuse me, the juice needs to see the refrigerator or you won't get any for a month."

"You're already doing it regularly?" Ike's shout was heard from down the hall, where he was supposedly attempting to make some storage space for the new decorations Roy had pilfered from his own house.

"What in the world are you talking about?" Marth yelled back. "I know that _I_ was talking about the juice."

A loud cough was heard from the hall, but nothing else.

Pit finally popped out of the ocean of decorations to tell Ike that that's what he got for listening into conversations late.

Ike responded with a, "Yeah, yeah, whatever," followed by a crash and a rather loud exclamation of, "Shit!"

Marth paled. "…That wasn't anything of mine was it?"

Roy shrugged nervously.

All was quiet as Ike appeared from the hallway. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at each other.

Marth cleared his throat after a few seconds, determined to not spend the rest of his life standing there in an awkward silence. "Well, whatever you broke, I hope you hid it well."

Ike grinned nervously and his slate blue eyes glanced back in the hallway. "Sure." An angry Marth was a scary Marth, as Ike had learned the hard way.

Untangling, or attempting to untangle, himself from the garlands, Link absently asked, "So what are you planning to do with these? You're not gonna host a party here, right?"

Roy shrugged, glancing over at Marth, who was his new roommate for the entire break.

Marth looked back. "Why are you looking at me? It's your apartment."

"But you'll be staying here. You won't mind?"

Marth shrugged absently, "No, why would I?"

Roy turned in the seat to face Marth. "Are you alright?"

Marth nodded and glanced at the mess. "That better be cleaned up. I don't want those garlands to be loose." And with no other words, Marth disappeared into the hallway.

"He's not okay," Link stated. When all he received were blank stares, the blond added, "Well, someone had to say it."

They all made various sounds of agreement and Roy kicked away an ornament that had been creeping up on him. "He'll tell me later, probably." Then he looked around. "I think we either have to get these up or stuff them back in the boxes, or else I'm not going to sleep tonight."

.:~:.

That night, stepping fresh from the shower with naught but a towel wrapped around his waist, Roy proceeded to glomp Marth from behind the couch, who had until then, been relaxing with a nice warm cup of tea, enjoying the momentary silence by watching the news. Noticeably shocked, Marth almost spilled the precious cup of tea, and after he had safely placed it on the coffee table, he glared at Roy. Feeling the water drip from Roy's clearly still-soaked hair onto him, he muttered, "Go dry yourself properly and put some clothes on. You're getting me all wet, too."

Roy grinned, pecked Marth on the cheek and said, "But I like seeing you wet."

Having the grace to blush, no matter how slight it was, Marth turned away mumbling, "Idiot," under his breath.

Roy grew concerned and murmured, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"It's stupid."

"I want to know what's wrong. It won't be stupid."

Marth looked away, staring very intently at a fake houseplant, a brilliant red spreading across his face. "Do you think we should tell them?"

Rightly confused, Roy asked, "Tell who what?"

"Uhm…" Marth shifted uncomfortably. "That…ah…"

Roy hummed a questioning tone as he reached over to grab the remote and turn off the television.

"Well, everyone assumes we've already…" Marth let the sentence trail off, and then in a much quieter voice, said, "Had sex." He let another pause occur before he continued. "Should we tell them that's an utter lie?"

Roy couldn't help but chuckle. "That's what you were worried about?"

"I told you it was stupid!" Marth protested, trying to break away from Roy's embrace.

Tightening his hold, Roy stopped laughing and said, "No, no it's not. I just think we should just let them believe what they will."

Marth had stopped struggling but there was still a frown on his lips.

Curiously, Roy asked, "Do you want to?"

"You can't just ask that randomly!"

"That wasn't random."

Okay, so Marth had to admit it wasn't as random as he claimed it to be. "I…I don't know," he replied truthfully.

Roy pressed his lips against the back of Marth's neck. "You've never considered it?"

"Of course I have."

Smirking, Roy replied, "Before today, I mean."

"Well," Marth hesitated, "Sometimes, yeah, when I stay over."

Roy grinned. "You, too?"

Marth startled and almost crashed his head against Roy's face as he felt Roy's hands trail down his sides. "That wasn't an invitation!"

Roy laughed and kissed him. "Of course." Roy then left to actually dress himself in something other than a towel, and Marth felt a little sad at the lack of warmth, then he felt even worse when he realized the tea was now cold and that now he couldn't stop wondering whether Roy had been hurt by the rejection.

To his surprise, Roy came back later, handing him a brand new cup of tea, placed a chaste kiss on his lips, and softly said, "Get to sleep early, alright?" He then frowned. "I know you like to watch who knows what on the television until the odd hours of the morning."

Marth smiled as happiness curled around his heart. "Thanks."

.:~:.

Pit stretched out on his bed and looked up at the ceiling. Speaking loudly to the other two occupants in the room, he asked, "Are we the only ones left in the dorm?"

"Probably," Link replied absently as he flipped through the pages of a book, realizing that his bookmark had fallen out.

"We're such losers," Pit lamented, quite bored. "I mean, even Marth got out of here, even though he's only a few miles away." There was a pause when no one wanted to agree with Pit's statement (because no one could disagree) and then Pit wondered aloud, "Do you honestly think that they've done it already?"

"What's with the sudden topic change?" Ike asked.

"Well would you rather talk about how lame we are?"

Ike shrugged. "No, I don't."

Pit looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Then why bring it up? It's going to come back to bite you in the butt, you know that, right?"

"You don't think about it?" Ike asked as he leaned his head back against the mattress of the bed as he was sitting on the floor, looking at the ceiling as well, trying to find what was so interesting.

Pit blushed. "Why, do you?"

"Sometimes."

"I-I do, once in a while," Pit answered.

"I can hear you guys, you know that, right?" Link broke in before Ike could reply.

"Yeah, and?" Ike asked.

"I'd rather not," Link replied.

Ike laughed. "Then don't."

"It's a bit difficult with you being so blunt about it," Link muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just that if you want to discuss your," he coughed as he said "lack" before he continued, "Of a sex life, go do it elsewhere, please."

"It's rather comfy here," Ike said.

"Hey, Link," Pit interrupted, "Do you ever…Do you ever feel left out?" After he was finished blurting out his mind, Pit realized it really was a lot better if he would just learn to keep his mouth shut, and found that months ago he probably should've taped his mouth shut, because following that inquiry, there was a deathly silence.

"The truth?"

Pit nodded.

"…Sometimes."

There was another pause, and then Pit muttered, "Sorry."

Ike gently squeezed Pit's hand for comfort.

That night, Pit was in Marth and Ike's room, as he had been for the past few days since Marth was gone, but now he felt bad about it.

Ike hugged Pit as they tried to sleep, having gradually and finally gotten used to the idea of being in a relationship with someone. "It'll be okay."

Pit just snuggled into his arms. "We have a new mission."

Ike closed his eyes, and said, "Seriously?"

"Hey, he helped us so we might as well return the favor."

Ike smiled, "I wouldn't exactly call it 'help.'"

"It'll be fun. We can get Roy to help too."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Uh…I'll think about that later?"

Ike laughed softly. "Okay."

.:~:.

"Roy! We're gonna hook Link up!"

"…Pit?"

"…Marth?"

"Yeah…"

From elsewhere in the apartment, Roy shouted, "Is that Pit?"

"Yeah," Marth shouted back, before saying "Sorry" to Pit, for yelling through the receiver.

"That's…alright…"

There was an awkward pause before Marth asked, "So what's this about hooking Link up?"

"You want in?" Marth could almost hear Pit's grin.

Considering it, Marth said, "On second thought, no. Here, I'll hand the phone to Roy."

"You know you want to."

Marth rolled his eyes and shoved the phone into Roy's hands, where the redhead proceeded to place the phone on speaker.

Marth said loudly, "I guess I have no choice, seeing as Roy's put the phone on speaker," making sure Pit could hear him.

Pit laughed. "Ike's in on it, too."

"Hey," Ike's deeper voice was heard over the speakers.

"Might as well form a committee," Marth replied, who, despite his earlier resistance, found himself sitting next to the phone.

Roy's eyes lit up. "Yeah! I'm sure Zelda would be happy to help again, and she could drag Sheik into it, too!"

Marth panicked. He hadn't been serious.

Pit's voice chimed in, "Sure! Hey, do either of you know anyone who's single?"

Marth had to resist smacking himself in the face as Roy grinned.

Great.

.:~:.

Zelda slid into the booth of the little restaurant, Sheik in tow. She pretty much squealed when she saw Ike and Pit and hugged them both at once. Then she proceeded to make it look perfectly normal and natural as she slid into the booth next to her brother, and smiled. "So how come you never told me it was these two? Didn't you promise to tell me if it worked out?"

Roy smiled and simply said, "I guess I forgot."

Zelda pouted, crossing her arms. "Well forget about me helping you this time around, then."

A look of utter panic crossed Roy's face. "But it's about Link!"

Zelda raised a delicate eyebrow. "I'm hooking up Link?"

Roy nodded, forgetting that he had failed to mention that little detail.

Zelda accepted this quietly and sat back in thought, and shortly after she gave her brother a thoughtful glance.

Sheik scooted away from her and said, "What?"

"You guys dated, right?" Zelda asked.

Without skipping a beat, Sheik shot back, "So did you."

Roy let out a low whistle as Ike muttered, "He's been around."

"At the same time?" Pit asked.

Marth just tried to blend in with the seat and remained silent.

"No!" The twins objected simultaneously.

"Ah, okay, okay. Just wondering," Pit said, backing off.

"So," Roy said, getting down to business. "Any ideas?"

Zelda and Sheik exchanged a look before Zelda said, "I dunno. He hasn't really seemed interested in a while, even though he's always had a group of girls who like him."

Pit frowned, resting his head on his fist. "I just feel bad, you know?"

Zelda's gaze turned distant for a while as she thought, and she absently murmured, "I haven't been in touch with him recently, has he shown interest in anyone lately?"

"Marth," Pit stated simply.

"What?!" Roy exclaimed, "When?!"

"Er," Pit attempted to meld into the seat behind him as he tried to explain. "It wasn't much, really, and it was back when Ike was…ya know, anyways, it wasn't much of anything, and he didn't really do anything about it either, so I guess it doesn't count much, but Zelda asked, and it was sort of an interest so–" At the end of this spiel, Pit was out of breath, having not paused to breath in between what should have been sentences, and was quite worrying the others.

As Ike quietly told Pit to breath, Zelda held up a hand and said, "Okay, I get it," then went back into thinking mode. She then abruptly grinned and stood up. Grabbing her brother by the wrist, she cheerfully said, "Thanks for the meal. I have some things to attend now, c'mon, Sheik," and left.

"Wait, but you haven't eaten anything!"

.:~:.

Sheik sidled up next to Link, who was sitting aside next to the wall, just observing the party, behavior that was quite uncharacteristic and worrisome on Link's part.

What was Sheik doing? He asked himself that millions of times, and answered himself repeatedly that it was for his sister, and more significantly, Link, despite Sheik's extreme reluctance to show _that_ kind of interest towards Link again, since he had sworn to himself that he would never be involved with Link that way ever again; but Zelda didn't know that, despite the common belief that twins share some sort of ESP, and so forced this duty onto her ever loving brother. Because she didn't want to do it herself. Yeah.

"It's been a while since we've talked," Sheik said awkwardly as he handed Link a drink.

Link nodded, accepting the drink and taking a large gulp of the cup's contents. "This is pretty tame for Roy," Link replied, completely out of context.

Going with the flow, Sheik answered, "Well, we _are_ in an apartment, so that severely limits what can be done."

"True," Link murmured. "It's more of an excuse to get out of the snow, since no one wants to be outside, and no one wants to be alone."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Link asked, plastering a smile on his face.

"I know we haven't been talking for a while," Sheik said, irritated, as Link graciously took Sheik's cup and drank from that since he had emptied his, "But that doesn't give you an excuse to lie to me."

"It's just that this season's become such a romantic time, it's kind of hard to ignore the feelings floating around in the air." Link motioned unsteadily in front of him. "Especially with your close friends like that."

Raising an eyebrow, Sheik examined the cup Link was drinking from and took a sip himself. Ah, Roy had spiked them, of course. Rolling his eyes, Sheik took the cup away from Link, who, as they had learned once in their senior year, could not hold his alcohol very well. Link's hand remained on the cup, and as it was pulled towards Sheik, Link followed, leaning over towards the other, pretty much pinning him against the wall. Aw, damn it.

"You know what?" Link whispered.

"What?" Sheik asked as he pressed himself closer to the wall, _not_ enjoying their close proximity, and _not_ liking how almost every part of them was touching.

"Why did we break it off?" Link asked as he pulled Sheik's scarf away so it would no longer cover up half his face.

'_Because…Because…' _Sheik had trouble coming up with incriminating excuses with Link's lips pressed against his, and with Link's fingers twining around his, and _damn_ Link's body was warm.

"Why don't we go to your place?" Link asked softly. "I'm sure Roy and Marth could use the privacy anyways."

Instead of protests streaming out of his mouth, like he had expected (really, he had absolutely _no_ desire to be with Link in that way ever again), all the ruby-eyed blond said was, "But Zelda's there doing who knows what. You know how she is."

Link kissed him again. "That's what doors and locks are made for."

Again, there were no protests. In fact, protests were the absolute _last_ thing on Sheik's mind. "Okay."

Once they had arrived at Sheik (and Zelda's) small home, Link had promptly attacked Sheik again (not implying that he had ever stopped making advances even while Sheik was driving), and Sheik had the distinct suspicion that Link wasn't as intoxicated as Link wanted him to believe, but Sheik made no attempts at stopping him, bewildering the tiny, sensible, forgotten part of his mind.

They almost stopped at the couch, but, realizing that the door was unlocked because Zelda was, in fact, somewhere in the house and awake, Sheik mumbled, "Not here," and dragged Link off to his bedroom, locking the door firmly behind him.

As Link started kissing him again adding, this time, the slow removal of clothing, Sheik finally attempted a weak protest, repeating in his mind, _'This is wrong…This is wrong…This is wrong…We can't be like this…This is wrong…This is wrong…This is–damn it, forget this…'_

Sheik gave in, putting more force into his response to the kiss and shoving his hands under Link's shirt, knowing full well that he would be regretting it in the morning.

.:~:.

Marth rolled his eyes as he looked at his collection of keys when he stepped into the apartment and put the keys in a bowl which he placed on the kitchen/dining room table. Realizing, too late, that Roy had somehow snuck alcohol into the drinks even under Marth's constant surveillance, Marth had forced everyone to take a cab or train home, and had confiscated their keys to retrieve when they weren't quite so incapacitated.

So now, facing an empty and…surprisingly clean apartment with innocent holiday decorations here and there, Marth looked with utter confusion into the living room. Where was Roy and why and how did a less than sober Roy clean up the mess?

Roy's arms wrapped around him and the redhead murmured, "So you won't be mad with me."

Marth rolled his eyes again. "Why would I be mad at you?"

Roy pouted, ocean blue eyes sparkling. "Do I have to say it?"

Smirking, Marth said, "I wasn't thinking of that, but since you mentioned it, that's a good idea."

Roy sputtered out some protests before meekly saying, "I snuck in alcohol."

Marth smiled, satisfied, pat Roy on the head and walked away, intent on getting to sleep.

"Heeeyyy," Roy whined, chasing after Marth, tackling him to the bed and pinning him to the soft comforter, "Let's do something, Marth."

"No," the sapphire-haired man refused, releasing himself from Roy's grasp and turning to his side, "You're drunk, Roy."

Roy grinned. "Am I?" He asked, voice lowering as he turned Marth to face him again.

"What–" Marth was cut off as Roy kissed him and wasted no time in slipping his tongue into Marth's mouth.

Giving up on resisting quite quickly, Marth pressed back, entwining their tongues in an intricate dance. Somewhere in the course of the kiss, Marth had placed his hands on the back of Roy's head and around Roy's neck, pulling Roy closer, while Roy devoted one arm to keeping him from smothering Marth and busied the other hand with pushing up Marth's shirt to skim his fingers over the smooth, pale skin underneath, too impatient to bother with the buttons.

Marth arched his back to meet Roy's touch as he broke the kiss to pant for some much needed air. "S-stop…" Marth managed to breathe out, although he had allowed Roy to rid him of his shirt altogether.

Confused, Roy stopped and let both arms rest at Marth's sides to support him. "Why?"

Marth clenched his hands together as his arms were looped around Roy's neck and he attempted to bring his legs closer together, forgetting that one of Roy's was in the middle. "I…" Marth looked to the side. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"Then we won't."

Marth rested his head back against the pillow and accidentally pulled Roy down with him. "But, dang it…" Marth blushed and huffed angrily.

"Huh?"

Marth mouth formed something akin to a frown, but what resembled a pout, and pushed one of Roy's hands towards the lower part of his body. "I'm aroused now, damn it."

Roy kissed him chastely, smiling. "Let's keep going then."

"Ah, but…!" Marth gasped as Roy rolled their hips together and, meeting Roy's touch, Marth suddenly decided clothes had become a hindrance rather than a necessity.

Roy moved down to kiss his neck and he mumbled against the skin, "We don't have to go all the way."

Marth, subconsciously, decided that sounded like a good idea as he tilted his head to the side and worked at removing Roy's shirt, which was quite difficult, considering his mind was preoccupied with what felt like a million other things.

Shirt hanging loosely around his shoulders (since Marth had given up on taking it off all the way after he had worked all the buttons loose), Roy paused in his ministrations, sitting back with his hands hovering over Marth's belt-buckle. "Do you trust me?"

"Always."

Roy smiled softly, whispered "I love you," against Marth's lips before stealing a kiss as he quickly worked away what was left of Marth's clothing.

"Yeah," was all Marth was able to get out before he lost his ability to form proper words.

.:~:.

Back in the dorms, Pit was snuggled against Ike, preserving as much warmth as they could between them and under the blankets surrounding them.

"Did you see where Link went? Or when he left?" Pit asked quietly into the darkness, knowing Ike was still awake.

"I'm not sure, but I think I saw him leave with Sheik."

"Are you worried?"

"Why would I be?"

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

Ike gently kissed Pit's forehead. "Worry about it after New Year's, alright?"

Pit was silent for a while before he whispered, "Alright."

* * *

_Author's Note: Is that…is that…the plot peeping back up I see? Hahaha, honestly, I meant for this chapter to be another cute little one full of fluff like the previous one, but I guess my brain decided to make it a little more serious, launching us into the next part of the story. For which I terribly apologize, because I realize that I might have you guys waiting quite a while for the next installment. I'm really sorry, but school is being a pain right now, a pain I'm sure most of you are well acquainted with. Until next time, happy holidays to you and see you after the New Year!  
--NarutoKyuu  
PS – I noticed I have issues with giving Ike a single personality and I have to apologize for that, but I haven't quite figured out what my problem is._


	11. Curiosity

_Author's Note: …I have come to realize that even [according to the Smash Bros. Dojo website ()] the creators refer to Sheik as a HER. I find this utterly preposterous and saddening as my mind will always see Sheik as the GUY he was in OOT. … D: I swear I remember somewhere in my guidebooks it mentions that Zelda had used magic to transform EVERYTHING about her, even her gender. Ah Sheik…you giant ambiguity of the gaming world you…Am I the only one that is left in the dust and now very confused?  
And then there's Pit running around and making my aunt think he's a girl. (Really happened when I was playing with my cousin… "Who's that girl?" "What girl?" "The one in pink." "…That's a guy." -sigh-)_

_Gnah. On a more important note…I'm still trying to fix the issue with Ike's personality being all over the place.  
--NarutoKyuu_

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

There was just something annoying in how the morning sun _always_ found a way to fling its blinding light across his eyes, no matter which way he faced when he slept, and no matter how tightly he closed his blinds. Groggily wondering if anyone else suffered with the same problem, Sheik slowly opened his ruby eyes and rubbed the sleep from them. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he sat up in preparation to launch himself into the new day. Or, he tried to sit up.

Frantically going through the previous night's activities in his mind, Sheik decided the arm around his waist holding him hostage against Link's body was a sufficient reason to start panicking.

He also decided that it was a sufficient reason to wish karma to bite his sister in the ass and have her trip on her way to the bathroom…or something like that.

Not…that he absolutely hated to be in this position. Sheik shook his head to rid himself of that thought; what was he thinking?

Once again coming to a silent conclusion that arguing with himself was going to get him nowhere, he quietly wormed his way out of Link's arms and hoped that a pillow would be an acceptable replacement.

Sheik quickly grabbed some clothes from his drawers and fled to the bathroom in the hallway as quietly as possible. Only after locking the door and stepping under the warm spray of the shower did he allow himself to relax. He grimaced as he found a tender spot that _definitely_ wasn't that sensitive on a regular basis and repeatedly called himself an idiot.

Finding himself in the mood to get a lot of decisions and compromising done this morning, Sheik once more decided that he was done with the actual cleaning portion of the shower and that it wasn't helping his nerves any, as he thought it would. With that decision, he quickly dried himself off and pulled his clothes on. Staring into the mirror while running the comb through his hair a few times, he thought about getting it cut short, or at least trimmed. It had been a while since he had done much of anything to his golden-blond hair besides trimming the bangs every time the locks started to go past his chin, and the length of his hair was starting to fall past the middle of his back, and maybe just starting to bug him. Just a little.

He shrugged to himself, deciding to save such contemplations for later, quickly tied his hair up and went to get himself some breakfast. On his way to the kitchen, he glanced at the clock.

Or lunch. Lunch was good.

"Finally decide to wake up?"

Sheik looked curiously at his sister as she wielded a red-stained, deadly looking knife above the cutting board. Realizing the red liquid was tomato juice and not human blood, he formulated a reply.

"I guess."

"I didn't think you'd wake up until later, but I guess I could make some more," Zelda mused to herself as she grabbed a few more tomatoes.

Sheik rolled his eyes as he went to help her with peeling the carrots.

Figuring that, with her wielding a knife and her brother wielding a lowly peeler, she would fare better in a fight, Zelda decided to make light conversation. "Did it work?"

Sheik frowned and suddenly became very interested in his meticulous and perfect peeling of the orange roots. "I don't know."

Zelda raised a delicate eyebrow in question and tossed the sliced and diced tomatoes into the lettuce.

"There wasn't exactly much conversation going on last night," Sheik replied in a monotone, handing the carrots over to her and moving to start fishing around in the refrigerator for the leftover chicken, wherever Zelda had decided to hide the elusive poultry _this_ time. "And last time I checked, he was still asleep."

Zelda pursed her lips in annoyance as the chicken was placed onto the counter none too gently. "You don't have to be so pissy about it," she muttered. "I thought that you wanted to get him back."

Throwing the chicken to give it a quick microwave bath, Sheik replied, "I'm not being pissy about it. And why the hell would I want to get back with him?" A scowl settled on his face as he went to set out some plates, reluctantly placing down a third plate after much thought.

"Why wouldn't you?" Zelda shot back after Sheik was left with nothing to do and so was deemed harmless at the moment.

"I could ask you the same question," Sheik defended, crossing his arms angrily.

"Did I…miss something?"

Zelda smiled as she noticed Link eyeing the knife she was washing cautiously. "Nope. You're right on time for lunch."

Link nodded and sat down at the small table in the adjacent room. "What's eating you?"

"Nothing," Sheik huffed, knowing better than to bring up the argument.

Looking back and forth between Sheik and Zelda, Link gave up and rested his forehead against the table. "I'll never understand you two."

.:~:.

Ike groaned and refused to remove himself from the bed. Classes were starting up again that day, and he hated the idea of waking up so early in the morning just to listen to a lecture.

Marth rolled his eyes and started choosing one of his various methods of waking Ike up as he checked his book bag for the umpteenth time, sure that he had forgotten something at Roy's place.

Shouldering his bag and deciding to worry about it later, when he actually remembered whatever he had forgotten, Marth shoved Ike off of his bed on the way to the door.

Following the loud thump, Ike quickly sat up and rubbed his head. "That hurt, damn it! You couldn't go easy on me? It's the first day back!"

Marth shrugged, hiding his smirk. Was it wrong that he indulged his sadistic side every morning? "All the more reason to leave the light stuff for later. You can sleep through a lot of things. Now as long as you're awake, get ready and rush off to class. It's not exactly my fault that a lot of your classes are early."

"Whatever."

Satisfied that their morning routine had been set back into its place, Marth bade Ike farewell before he left the room to get off to class.

As Ike passed by the room next to his a few minutes later, he heard a much similar argument going on.

"Link! Get out of bed! You have class in _ten minutes_!"

"Not everyone's an early riser."

Chuckling under his breath, Ike gently knocked on the door.

"Augh! What now?!" Pit angrily opened the door and looked up in surprise to see Ike standing there. "Don't _you_ have a class too? One that you're five minutes late for?"

Ike shrugged carelessly, trying to peer into the room. "The professor's always fifteen minutes late. I have time."

Pit frowned, but noticed Ike's curious look and went to explain. "Link won't get up."

"Have you tried pushing him?"

After a confused look, Pit glanced back into the room as well, where Link was determinedly trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. "Will it work?"

"Probably. Marth does it to me all the time." Ike gave the room one last glace, hesitantly pecked Pit's cheek, and started walking off. "Make sure he doesn't hit the table, though. I've gotta go now or I'll be late."

Pit rolled his eyes and smiled. "Like you weren't already." The brunet closed the door and hesitantly turned to face the problem of Link. After a few moments of silent debate, Pit walked over and harshly tugged on Link's bed sheets. Having been so tightly wound in them, Link ended up rolling off the bed with the sheets, introducing his face to the floor.

"Time to face the day like a man," Pit bluntly stated, ignoring Link's indignant cries of pain. Pit would have found the situation mildly amusing, with Link whining like a small child, if he had not realized that this class Link so urgently had to get to was also a class that Pit would be attending. Frowning, Pit said, "If you don't start moving faster I'm going to leave you here."

Thoroughly freaked out about the mere idea of Pit leaving him to face their monster of a professor _alone_, Link kicked his mind into overdrive and quickly changed, figuring he could take a shower later. He had the unfortunate experience of learning the hard way that when Pit said he would leave Link in the room in his half-asleep daze in favor of being on time to class, Pit meant it; which also meant that Pit valued his attendance over joining his friend to be mocked and ridiculed by the professor with the other stragglers who were late to his class.

Link had also learned the professor had an uncanny ability to pick out the sleepers in his class, and had the impeccable aim to nail each and every one of these students on his or her head with his endless supply of whiteboard erasers. But, unlike the calling out he got for being late to class, Link couldn't bring himself to stay awake in class and was struck in the head at least once a week. Upon discovery that the professor never collected these erasers back, Link had started up a competition with Fox (another regular sleeper in the class) to see who could collect more erasers.

However, upon the realization that Link was being completely idiotic about this whole sleeping issue, Pit made it his mission to keep Link awake in the class by any means necessary. Link had complained to Pit and then Fox (when Pit would not relent) about the unfairness only to come upon the knowledge that Falco, one of Fox's best friends, was doing the same thing, and so neither could back out of the challenge.

Pit rolled his eyes and kicked Link in the shin for the fifth time that hour. "Stay awake, idiot," he mumbled.

"Ah, but physics is so boring," Link lamented.

"Then why'd you take the class?"

"Because," Link absently explained as he watched Fox get a kick to the shin from Falco as well, "Zelda forced me to." There was a brief pause before Link muttered, "Although I don't know what she finds so interesting about the class. She's the one who's into all that magic and sorcery stuff."

Pit was about to ask about Link's relationship with Zelda, but stopped when he realized that would be encouraging Link to further divert his attention from the class, and that would also more than likely provoke an undesired response.

Shaking his head, he looked back up to the front of the room. He was going to try to stay quiet this time, but he didn't know how long that would actually last.

Not long, as he found out.

As soon as the day was pretty much over, Pit took the opportunity to pounce.

"Link, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"What, uhm…wow this is a lot harder when I actually think about it before I ask…" Pit mumbled to himself before continuing, "What kind of relationship do you have with Zelda?"

Surprised, Link looked up from his book to look at Pit who was, in turn, looking anywhere but back at Link, wondering if he had tripped over another mine just waiting to explode.

"Well…" Link thought about it. "It's a tentative friendship."

"Really?" Pit asked in surprise. "You guys seem so close."

"In a way, I guess. We've known each other since we were really young, but…We have very careful boundaries…"

"Sheik too?" Pit hesitantly asked.

Link nodded.

"Because you used to date?"

Slowly, Link answered, "In a way…I suppose," while giving Pit a look that clearly meant "How did you find out?"

"Zelda…kind of…let it slip the other day."

"Really? That must've been one huge slip," Link mused to himself.

Pit looked curiously at Link. "Was it that bad?"

Link shrugged. "I'm not really sure either, but none of us talk about it anymore…"

"One of the walls?"

"Yeah…long story…"

"That's okay, if it's that personal," Pit half-lied. He was curious, yeah, but he wasn't about to go bashing down anyone's walls and trampling over anyone's comfort zone to get the information.

Picking up on the disappointment, Link mumbled, "Maybe Zelda…?" as a hint, but then continued with, "You didn't hear it from me."

Pit nodded and turned around in his bed to stare at the wall, forgetting that it was barely nine o'clock and that he hadn't changed. If there were such careful boundaries built around the fact that there was some sort of love triangle between them, then why had Zelda been so anxious to hook Link up? Pit scanned the wall in confusion, as if it held all the answers. Then he started wondering if he should really be so curious about whatever had happened, seeing as it was more than likely none of his business, and way in the past, as of now.

"You're not going to do homework?"

"Wake me up in a few hours," Pit mumbled distractedly.

"If I fall asleep and don't wake you up, it's not my fault."

"I'm blaming you anyways."

"Thanks a lot."

"Yup."


	12. Meetings

_Author's Note: Well, this story is longer than I thought it'd be. XD This chapter is pretty short, but I had to split up the part I originally intended to put in here to the next chapter, because it didn't really fit.  
--NarutoKyuu_

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

"Come again?"

"Ah…" Pit shifted on the couch uncomfortably. "Well, I was just…curious, and…"

"Link wouldn't tell you, huh?" Zelda asked with an understanding look on her face.

"…Yeah."

She tapped her lip in thought as she absently asked, "I wonder why me, though?" Before Pit could ask, "Why _not_ you?" Zelda added, "I think Sheik would know better."

Pit could almost feel his will to hear about the Incident (as he had started to call it) shrink in defeat. Almost. He had noticed a tension about the trio lately, and he was almost certain that the Incident was the cause. He supposed he should feel bad for prying, but it was for a good reason…right? Pulling himself out of his less than pleasant thoughts, Pit asked, "He won't mind? I mean, we're not exactly best friends."

Zelda smiled. "It should be alright. It's been a while since any of us has spoken about it, and I'm pretty sure everyone who had known about it has forgotten about it. He's dying to talk about it, but if he talks to me we just end up arguing about it. And well, he can't really go and talk to Link about it…" Her voice drifted off as she looked up to the ceiling. "Who knows what would happen then."

As Zelda noticed Sheik walk by the entrance to the living room, she called out to him while she stood up. "Ah! Sheik, Pit wants to ask you something. I'll just be…uhm…out…" There was a pause. "Uh…Shopping. Yup! Yeah! I was gonna go out with Samus and Shiomi*, and maybe Ikuye*…ah, then Chariz* and Hitoshi* will probably be dragged along…" Zelda continued lamely, her voice getting softer and softer as she drifted out the door of the small home.

A little suspicious (and also concerned), Sheik wordlessly stared after his sister until she disappeared behind the door. Then he looked at Pit as he sat down. "What did you want to ask me?"

"What happened between you, Zelda, and Link?" After a long silence, Pit frantically added, "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay!"

At length, Sheik replied, somewhat hesitantly. "It's okay…" There was a thoughtful silence. "I've been thinking about it…actually."

Pit quietly waited for the blond to continue.

"Okay. It was during junior year…"

.:~:.

Zelda walked with the large group she had gathered in the mall, glad that they had taken up to her very impromptu plans so easily. However, instead getting into the fray that was Shiomi, Ikuye, and Chariz together at a mall like she usually would (she enjoyed dressing up the introverted Chariz as much as Shiomi did), she hung back preferring to follow Samus around ("That dress would look _wonderful_ on you") who was much easier to shop with.

They had met up again by the food court, where, upon spotting Zelda, Shiomi eagerly dragged Chariz to her, despite Chariz being nearly twice her height (since Shiomi was rather short and Chariz rather tall). "Look, Zelda, look! Isn't it cute?"

Wondering how in the world Chariz had managed to look _cute _(she always thought his figure was too tall to do any serious shotacon makeovers to, not without lack of trying, of course) Zelda quickly looked up. And had to keep from laughing, not because she was trying not to laugh at Shiomi for attempting to make Chariz cute (because, well, the small girl with curly, light blue hair had succeeded), but because the general idea of it all made her laugh.

Shiomi had tastefully picked out several bobby pins and clips to pin back Chariz's red bangs that usually covered a lot of his right eye. While the clips and pins seemed to be working, the mess that was so artfully created allowed some of the styled, red hair to fall back into his face.

Zelda never noticed how big and blue Chariz's eyes were before. She brought a hand to cover her mouth as she started to giggle. The scowl on Chariz's face really wasn't much of a scowl; especially with a blush spreading on his face as he realized people were _staring_.

"Shiomi, let me take it off!" Chariz whined.

"It" consisted of a large, white, hooded jacket with green designs, where the sleeves were much to long for his taste (they kept falling over his fingers, damn it), and a pair of navy blue jeans that hung low on his hips despite the fact that Shiomi had thrown several belts and such onto him as well. The baggy jeans seemed to further diminish his height in a way his normal cargo pants never could. Go figure.

Hitoshi couldn't help but antagonize his best friend. He turned his cap around in his standard I'm-totally-serious stance, sending Chariz the best leer he could muster.

Ikuye, the only sensible one at the moment, was the first one to notice that people might actually mistake Hitoshi as one huge pervert (not that he wasn't) and gently took Shiomi's hand to get her attention. Shiomi startled, but realizing it was Ikuye, she smiled sweetly. "Yes?"

At such an innocent face, Ikuye nearly gave in. Nearly. Closing her maroon eyes, she turned her face away and said, "I think we ought to let Chariz change back.

Shiomi pouted. "Why?"

"Because people might start getting the wrong idea here."

With wide, earnest, brown eyes, Shiomi said, "You didn't know?"

"…what?" Ikuye asked hesitantly. Did she really want to know?

"Eh? You don't hear them sometimes, at night?"

Chariz tried his best to ignore her as he latched onto Hitoshi's wrist and dragged the brunet with him to the restrooms. "Help me take this off." There was a pause as his words processed. "Not like that!" Chariz exclaimed, knowing the expression Shiomi had developed without having to turn around and look at her. "I don't know how all these buckles and buttons work and I'm not letting Shiomi undress me…" he muttered lamely.

Once the two were out of earshot, Shiomi eagerly returned her attention to the girls in front of her.

"Since when have they been together?" Zelda asked, a small, amused smile crossing her face.

Shiomi looked at Zelda in question, her big, brown eyes swimming with confusion. "They're not together."

Ikuye let out a cry of indignation. "But you said…earlier you said…"

Shiomi gently patted her hand trying to placate her. "I meant hearing them talk. They stay up really late and sometimes, and when I'm working late on a project or something I can listen in a little. Don't you?"

Thinking about it, the green-haired girl nodded. "I suppose. But what does that have to do with your obsession with dressing Chariz up?"

"Ah, you don't get it," Shiomi lamented. "Zelda, Samus, do one of you want to explain?"

Samus glanced at her watch. "Oh, I can't, sorry. I promised Peach I was going to meet up with her to work on a project. I'll see you guys later."

The girls waved goodbye and left behind was an awkward silence.

When Ikuye decided to look at Zelda for an explanation, Zelda merely shrugged. "I get that dressing Chariz up is fun, but I don't know why either."

Shiomi sighed in frustration. The small girl practically yelled to the whole food court, "They're totally in love with each other! But Chariz is too shy to admit it and Hitoshi is too dense!"

"I know your pain," Zelda said softly, lost in her thoughts.

"Hm?"

Zelda smiled. "Just something that's been going on for too long. They'll get around to it eventually."

Shiomi grinned and excitedly agreed.

Ikuye looked uncertainly at Shiomi and tentatively asked, "So all this is an elaborate scheme to get the two to notice their feelings?"

"Yup!" Shiomi then took a glance in the direction the two young men had disappeared. "And by the looks of things, I think they have. They're taking quite a long time. I don't think the outfit was _that_ complicated, right, Ikuye?"

Ikuye grunted while still maintaining her feminine image (how she pulled that off was still a mystery) and said, "Why would I know?"

Shiomi pouted. "Man, I really want to see how my plan worked!" Shiomi tapped her lip in thought. "I hope they're not going too far. They _are_ in a public restroom."

Ikuye grimaced. "Keep your thoughts to yourself…I didn't need that mental image."

Shiomi grinned evilly. "You might as well get used to it~" the girl sang.

Zelda smiled. "Well, I need to get going home. Tell me how it goes, okay?"

"Of course," Shiomi purred before waving goodbye. She then turned to face Chariz and Hitoshi as they approached the two girls. Taking notice of their disheveled appearances and grinning, Shiomi asked, "How was it?"

Chariz merely grimaced.

Shiomi pouted. "Well, if you don't want the clothes, give 'em back."

Tightening his grip on the bag, Chariz embarrassedly muttered, "No…they're not…terrible…"

Shiomi smiled. "So, Hitoshi, you like them too?"

A blush violently took over Hitoshi's expression as he sputtered, "What are you implying?!"

"Nothing~" Shiomi started walking towards the exit of the mall, dragging Ikuye along with her. "Let's go home, I'm tired."

* * *

*Hahaha, my wonderfully named human!Pokémon. First there's Pika Chu (and his younger brother Pi, but I'm not sure if he'll make an appearance in LSHNBSC) Now I have a whole plethora of them…although they're names are sort of more realistic that Pika and Pi's. I wish I'd have thought of giving them real names earlier. D: Will they be making more appearances? I dunno that either. (I even gave them last names (sorta haha)! Why? …I dunno.)  
Ikuye Fushigi = Ivysaur/Fushigisou  
Shiomi Nigame = Squirtle/Zenigame  
Chariz Ibaraki = Charizard/Lizardon  
Hitoshi = Pokémon Trainer/Red (I didn't want to use Red, so I pulled some random name from the list on Blubapedia)

* * *

_A/N: Well, that was certainly interesting to write. Not much of plot development going, but I'll get there. I guess it's my job to make everyone gay. XD Next chapter starts Sheik's little flashback thing, but it'll still be in third person. Yups.  
--NarutoKyuu_


	13. Arguments and Interests

Author's Note: I think it's safe to say that I am out of the Hiatus. (:  
Yay, this part starts Sheik's flashback sequence thing, explaining all the drama between him, Link, and Zelda. The italics are the parts that are the flashback. Text in the square brackets is Link and Sheik's translated silent language. XD  
--NarutoKyuu

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

"What happened between you, Zelda, and Link?" After a long silence, Pit frantically added, "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay!"

At length, Sheik replied, somewhat hesitantly. "It's okay…" There was a thoughtful silence. "I've been thinking about it…actually."

Pit quietly waited for the blond to continue.

"Okay. It was during junior year…"

_Sheik happily walked along with Link as they travelled to the front of the school, where they were meeting up with Zelda and (much to Link's dissatisfaction), Kurai*. They never spoke much when they walked, both being rather taciturn at times, but it was far from an uncomfortable silence.  
So as they walked and Link silently distressed over Kurai, said shady character pounced on him from behind, easily slipping an arm around the shoulders of a rather disgruntled green-eyed blond._

"_Hey! Where are you guys going?"_

_Despite being somehow related (though Link furiously denied it when asked if the two were brothers), Link and Kurai's similarities ended with their just slightly similar appearance._

_Squirming out of his brother's grip, Link rolled his eyes and kept walking. "You already forgot? I guess it isn't surprising."_

"_That hurts," Kurai complained as he fell into step with the other two. Flipping his white bangs from his eyes, Kurai absently asked, "So where are we going?"_

_Link looked at Sheik and gave him an expression in their silent language [Aw darn, it didn't work]. Link had intentionally left out where they would be meeting when telling his brother (he knew Kurai wouldn't ask until five minutes before) and in doing so, was hoping to lose him. Sheik was willing to play along only because he didn't like how Kurai was always eyeing Zelda like she was some sort of elegant dish._

_Sheik shrugged slightly [I'm sorry…?] and told Kurai, "We were thinking of going down to the pier and spending the afternoon there, since it's the start of the weekend."_

"_Cool," Kurai replied, "Lots of chances to score."_

_Link smacked him upside the head. "Is that all you ever think about?"_

"_Ah, I always think of my sweet little brother who's always so _mean_ to me." Kurai frowned as he thought of something. "Are we walking there?"_

"_Well _someone_ had to go and be put on probation."_

"_Hey, that jackass was totally begging for it."_

_Sheik silently took the chance to sneak away before things turned from bad to ugly, and walked behind them with Zelda, who had joined, unnoticed._

_Zelda smiled. "What are they arguing about this time?"_

"_Kurai's inability to drive legally."_

"_Ah." Pause. "That jackass was asking for it, though."_

"_That's what I said!" Kurai exclaimed, finally noticing her. "See, now this is why I like you best," Kurai added, smirking as he tried to wind his arm around Zelda's waist._

"_Hands off, Kurai," Sheik ordered in a cold voice._

"_Ah, no need to get so jealous," Kurai laughed, "All you had to do was ask."_

_For a moment, Sheik was worried Kurai would start coming on to him as well, but was surprised when Kurai did no such thing, simply content to be silent for a few blessed seconds until he started harassing Zelda again. Sheik firmly refused to call it flirting, because then Kurai would actually have to have _feelings_ to be trying so hard to win Zelda over._

_Shaking that scary thought from his mind, his eyes brightened up as they approached the pier, which had the appearance of a mini-carnival. He could never resist a little sugar and a good carnival game that he was actually competent at (he had a rather deft aim, if he could say so himself). Sheik had to resist jumping when he felt a hand curl around his. He was about to introduce his elbow to the creep's gut, but stopped when Kurai whispered into his ear, "Link's run off with Zelda. If you're quite done fantasizing, why don't we actually do something?"_

_Sheik turned to face twinkling red eyes (not unlike his own pair of rubies) before he jerked away, finding the way how he was close enough to Kurai's face to feel the albino's breath slide over his lips extremely disconcerting. Sure, he had to admit, Kurai sort of looked like Link, if he stared at him long enough, and while Sheik admittedly had feelings not of the friendly kind towards Link, he certainly wasn't desperate enough (because Link would _never_ return his feelings) to give into Kurai's demands and develop feelings toward him instead. Hopefully._

_Kurai obviously gleaned some other message from Sheik's expression as he smirked (because Kurai never smiled or grinned, unless it was an expression of pure evil) and said, "Now where do you want to go?"_

_Sheik had to struggle from losing his very carefully constructed composure (Kurai's face was still much too close) as he muttered, "This isn't a date."_

_Feigning surprise, Kurai simply said, "Really? Link seems to be taking it that way."_

_Sheik turned his focus to looking around the busy pier, trying to spot Link and Zelda. No one touched Zelda without suffering from her brother's wrath! Well, he had to admit, Link was a much better prospect than Kurai, but that still didn't keep his over-protective-brother feelings from going into hyper drive. Looking away from the two to keep himself from doing anything drastic, Sheik mumbled, "Whatever then. Do they have candied apples here?"_

_Kurai smirked happily to himself as they started maneuvering through the crowd, hand still firmly grasping Sheik's. "We practically _live_ here. You know there is."_

"_It slipped my mind."_

_Kurai allowed a shocked look to appear on his face. "You've forgotten your favorite stand? My, my, what's bothering you so much that you've forgotten?"_

"_Nothing," Sheik rebutted, having half a mind to wrench his hand out of Kurai's grip. _But his hand is warm, and it's starting to get rather chilly_, his mind reasoned._

_Sheik nervously tugged his scarf higher to cover his mouth as Kurai laughed and ordered an apple.  
To which, a loud, excited voice said, "Sheik! I didn't know you were with Kurai!"_

_Looking to the small blond in shock (since when had Pika started working here?), Sheik tore his hand from Kurai's and said, "I'm not."_

_Pika gave them confused looks as he grabbed the order. "But…you two were standing so close and holding hands and everything. And you're blushing, Sheik. And, and, Kurai's treating you and everything. He's never that nice."_

_Sheik smiled nervously as he was handed the caramel covered apple. "You're over analyzing things."_

_Pika pouted. "Okay…whatever…Enjoy and have a nice day!"_

_Speaking up for the first time in a while, Kurai smirked and said, "Will do. Thanks," and steered Sheik away from the stand._

_Frowning slightly as he nibbled the apple, Sheik managed to lead them towards the end of the pier where there were a lot less people walking around. The few people that were there were mostly couples, but Sheik ignored this fact as he went to sit down at the edge, feet dangling over the sparkling sea._

_Kurai sat next to him and curiously asked, "Is the idea of being with me really that repulsive to you?"_

_It was a serious question on Kurai's part, and even though Sheik had never considered that Kurai saw him that way (really, Sheik thought Kurai was rather partial towards Zelda) Sheik couldn't bring himself to answer with a flat out "No." He answered ambiguously instead. "You know who I like."_

_Looking down, Kurai muttered, "Everyone likes him better than me."_

"_That's not true," Sheik muttered back. "You're just a difficult person to get to know."_

_Kurai laughed. "That's supposed to be a compliment?"_

_Put out, Sheik tried to explain again, but his voice grew softer in embarrassment. "You're like the apple. You're covered in a strange mask that makes people afraid to get to know you better, but once people take that first bite, the learn that you're not all that bad, only the taste is opposite. Instead of being sweet on the outside and sour on the inside, like the apple, you're more of bitter and sour on the outside, but really sweet deep down."_

_Kurai raised his eyebrows in surprise. That would probably have to be the most words he had heard out of Sheik at any given time, and it made him feel oddly happy. "Do I really come across as bitter and sour?"_

"_Well, you're more…harsh. But that's not a flavor."_

_Kurai laughed again. "You're strange when you want to be."_

"…_Thanks…?"_

_Smirk growing, Kurai asked, "Are you trying to hint at something, using the apple as an analogy?"_

_A faint blush danced across Sheik's face as Kurai leaned over to take a bite out of the other side of the apple the same time he did._

_Looking down to hide his cheeks, Sheik replied, "What are you implying?"_

"_That I'm your favorite person…?"_

_Sheik frowned and leaned away as Kurai moved to take another bite from the apple. "No!"_

_But Kurai wasn't fooled, not missing the way Sheik's face grew red as he moved closer. "Why are you letting me get so close to you?"_

_Sheik silently handed Kurai the rest of the apple as he looked down to the water, allowing Kurai to finish the treat off. "I don't know," Sheik answered defensively._

"_You do. You're not a very open kind of person, so you must have a reason for this."_

"_It'll hurt your ego."_

"_That's so sweet of you to worry about me, but tell me."_

_After much reluctance, Sheik told him. "…Y-you look like him, okay?" _And maybe I'll fall for you instead_, he added silently._

_Instead of reacting angrily, like Sheik had expected, a smirk stole across Kurai's face. "So that means you're giving me a chance? Good, because I think Link favors Zelda too much to be worth your time."_

_Sheik's eyebrows rose in question. "I always thought you were after Zelda."_

"_Nah, you're much more interesting."_

"_You could just say you're gay."_

"_I'm not."_

"_Then?"_

"_I don't discriminate."_

"_Ah."_

_After Kurai got tired of the silence that filled the air, he stood up and dusted the seat of his pants off, the finished stick of the candy apple hanging from his mouth. "C'mon," he offered Sheik his hand, "I promised this old man I'd beat him at his own game."_

_Sheik rolled his eyes as he ignored the helping hand and stood. "Those guys rig their games; you do know that, right?"_

_Eyes widening in surprise as if, no, he had not known, Kurai asked, "Well how do you always win then?"_

"_I compensate."_

_.:~:._

"_There you guys are!"_

_Sheik turned away from watching Kurai curse the old man running the stand (having since long given up on berating the albino for using such language in front young children) and faced Link and Zelda. "You were looking for us?"_

"_Of course!" Zelda exclaimed, putting a hand on her hip and looking at him disapprovingly. "We've been looking for you guys for the past hour!"_

_Raising his eyebrows, Sheik glanced back at Kurai, who was getting too worked up over such a silly game. "He told me you guys eloped."_

"_FUCK!"_

_Sheik dealt a heavy kick to Kurai's side, knocking the other onto the ground. "Watch your language."  
Kurai glared up at him from the ground, smirking. "What the hell was that for?"_

_Sheik smiled threateningly. "My foot will end up somewhere you _really_ don't want it to be if you don't shut up."_

_Deciding Sheik looked pretty damn serious about the threat, Kurai shut up._

"_So what is this about eloping?" Link asked as he looked at his brother in mild interest._

_Kurai grumbled as he sat up, lifting his shirt to poke at his side, sure there would be a bruise the next day. "You disappeared off with Zelda; I decided to steal Sheik for the day. Is that a crime?"_

"_Kidnapping people is a crime, yes," Link deadpanned._

_Kurai tsked, finally standing up and shooting the old man on the other side of the counter a glare before returning his attention to Link. "I wasn't _kidnapping_ him. Stealing and kidnapping are two completely different things."_

"_Whatever," Zelda said airily, effectively stopping the impending argument, "The matter is that you two just suddenly disappeared on us. We thought something bad had happened!"_

"_Hey, you guys started it first, sneaking off to wherever the he–" Kurai nervously looked to Sheik glaring at him and he could just _imagine_ the pain, so he awkwardly coughed and continued. "It's your fault for suddenly disappearing on us."_

"_Suddenly?" Link asked. "I told you we were just heading over to buy some drinks." Link rolled his eyes. "I guess you were too busy being indecent to notice."_

"_It's not my fault Sheik is so interesting."_

_Not liking the tone in Kurai's voice, Sheik sighed. He'd had enough of this nonsense for the rest of the weekend. "I'm going home. See you later, Zelda."_

_Zelda nodded and Kurai felt the need to say, "Be careful when walking home."_

_Sheik merely rolled his eyes and answered with a noncommittal hum._

_.:~:._

"_What the hell is your problem?" Kurai angrily asked, slamming the door behind them.  
The two brothers lived alone in their apartment, given that their parents had passed away recently, and were allowed to live without parental supervision considering Kurai was already of a legal age, only on the premise that Link would keep everything in hand. Ironic, but it worked._

"_What's my problem?" Link furiously retorted. "What's _your_ problem?"_

_Kurai jammed his keys back into his pocket and threw his schoolbag onto one of the couches in the living-sometimes-dining area. "Why are you getting so pissy about this?"_

"_You know I like him!"_

_Kurai froze, hand pausing in the task of being run through white hair. Mentally swatting the guilt that was gnawing at his stomach away, Kurai turned to enter their small kitchen and loudly retaliated. "I figured that since you haven't officially confessed your love to each other, it was fair game."_

_Link's jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything, opting to storm off to his room to sulk._

_Taking another swat at the unfamiliar feeling of guilt chewing on his innards, Kurai set about making some sort of dinner, since Link seemed incapacitated at the moment. "I can do whatever I want," Kurai muttered to himself as he grabbed for some random cookbook and flipped to some random page. Eyes scanning over the list of ingredients and deeming the recipe doable, Kurai allowed a soft, "Damn it," to escape his lips as he started flitting around the kitchen._

* * *

_*Dark Link, who, after much debate, I've included and given a name. :/_

* * *

A/N: Uhm, to clear up any confusion (since Sheik is technically telling this story to Pit) let's just say that Link had told Sheik about when Link and Kurai had argued some time later. Or the four got together and had a big share-fest about all the confused feelings and mixed misunderstandings that went around. Whatever makes it more believable.  
--NarutoKyuu (Kurai's fun to write.)


	14. Advances

Author's Note: I apologize for the day late update, but the document uploader was being mean to me on Friday and I was out all day yesterday. ._.;  
I feel kind of sad that I won't be writing any Pit, Ike, Marth, or Roy interaction for a while.  
--NarutoKyuu

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

_The gleeful sun threw its blinding rays through the small cracks in the blinds and over Sheik's closed eyes, _still_ somehow managing to burn through his retinas. Grumbling and throwing his spare pillow over his face, he tried to fall back asleep; it was much too early for a weekend for Sheik to be getting out of bed._

_So, with that thought happily in mind, Sheik attempted to reenter the blessed land of dreams. His attempts were thwarted, however, when he could hear a loud banging sound come from the front of the house downstairs. Simultaneously, his plans to avoid Kurai and Link for the rest of the weekend also flew out the window, as he heard the unmistakable voice of Kurai complaining loudly._

_He sighed inwardly as he threw his legs over the side of the bed to greet the day. His parents were out of the city for the rest of the month, and Sheik wasn't exactly sure whether to be glad or not. Kurai always acted positively _civil_ around Sheik and Zelda's mother, even more so than Link did, so of course she loved Kurai to pieces and allowed the albino to come and go, much to Kurai's pleasure._

_But, since his mother was nowhere _near_ the house, Sheik felt obliged to kick Kurai out, literally if he had to._

_Sheik trudged down the stairs after a quick trip to the restroom and throwing on some random shirt, only to be greeted with a cup of coffee and the smell of breakfast cooking._

_Zelda never cooked breakfast._

_Link couldn't cook, and that had been proven a few months ago, with a disaster none of them liked to remember._

_Knowing Kurai was more than at home in the kitchen (by some strange twist of fate) Sheik couldn't even grudgingly check the kitchen to make sure nothing had blown up or melted while he was still half asleep and silently resigned himself to sit down at the dining table. Ignoring Link for the moment, he curiously looked at the mug of coffee in his hands, set upon the table; simply the smell of the brown drink waking him up just a little more._

_But, he never liked coffee, so he silently handed it over to Link, who drank the beverage like it was constantly going out of style. Sharing a confused glance for a moment, Sheik took this chance to convey his utmost bewilderment and annoyance. [Why is your brother invading my kitchen?]_

_Link shrugged, taking a sip of his new mug of coffee. [He wanted to bother someone and got bored of bothering me.]_

_Sheik barely hesitated to roll his eyes. [Great, thanks.]_

_Kurai patted Sheik's head as he set some plates of food down in front of them. "I know you're talking about me with that strange silent language of yours," he declared loudly, as if he was a genius._

"_Good job," Sheik muttered as Zelda hopped down the stairs to greet them._

_Ignoring the fact that she was the only out-of-the-closet morning person, Zelda smiled brightly as she grabbed the plates and utensils the three males had conveniently forgotten to set out and laid them around the table. Quickly deducing that Sheik didn't look awake enough to have made breakfast, and knowing the house would be missing a large chunk had Link attempted, she cheerfully thanked Kurai for cooking before she sat and started eating._

_Thrown off guard, Kurai mumbled a quick, "Whatever," and started eating before all the food was gone._

_Halfway through the silent and tense meal, Zelda decided to speak up. "What are you two arguing about now?"_

_Link and Kurai shared a quick, fleeting glance before throwing their glances to random spots in the dining room, both agreeing the topic they had been arguing over could not be discussed in such company._

_Zelda raised an eyebrow at the silent truce. "What?"_

"_Nothing, nothing," Kurai muttered._

_It was Zelda and Sheik's turn to share a conspiratorial glance before looking at the two brothers._

_Smiling prettily (although those who knew her knew to head for the hills upon seeing such a smile), Zelda loudly spoke, "So you won't mind going out with us today? We were thinking of hitting the movies or something, then catching some lunch."_

_Kurai and Link shared a last, nervous glance before Kurai stumbled, "S-sure. We had nothing to do anyways."_

_And with that, Zelda had a completely pleasant look upon her face, one that made Kurai and Link shrink uncomfortably in their chairs, ready to hightail it out of there. A little uncomfortable himself, Sheik stabbed at the food on his plate, decidedly concentrating on nothing but the food._

_.:~:._

_The movie was an utter disaster, not that Sheik would have noticed, being annoyingly distracted by Kurai and Zelda by Link. But, he had heard later on that the movie was a total waste by several other people who had bothered to watch it, and so was perhaps a tiny bit glad that he had missed the chance to watch the screen, however infuriating Kurai had been at the time._

_The white-haired young man had been touching him _everywhere_. Hands were constantly across his shoulders, in his hair, tugging his scarf away from his face ("It's too _warm_ in here to be wearing that thing"), sliding across his hands, and…moving under his shirt(?!)._

_Sheik angrily shoved Kurai's hands away, still attempting to focus on the large screen upfront at this point. "Stop touching me," he hissed._

_Completely undeterred, Kurai slid a hand over Sheik's and muttered, "But someone has to distract you from _that_." He motioned with a nod over to Link, who seemed to be taking advantage of the darkly lit theater._

_Sheik scowled, more over the fact that Zelda was finally making out with Link than the fact that Kurai's hands were starting to roam over his body again. "Bastard," Sheik mumbled under his breath, directing it towards Link._

_Kurai tutted as he finally pulled Sheik free of his scarf and placed a tentative kiss against his neck. "And you tell me to watch my language," he whispered._

"_Sh-shut up," Sheik hurriedly muttered as he shoved Kurai away and tried to grab his scarf back at the same time. "Stop undressing me."_

_Kurai grumbled in irritation, but realizing it was probably unwise to be, as Sheik put it, undressing someone in the theater, he stopped, settling for smoothing his fingers over the back of Sheik's hand, and later stealthily moving that hand onto a thigh._

_Sheik promptly kicked Kurai in the shin. "What part of fuck off don't you understand?"_

"_Not without you," he whispered back in a sing-song tone._

"_Shut up," Sheik growled, delivering another kick to Kurai's shin._

_Kurai quickly pulled his leg away from the danger to sulkily rub at the injured skin through his jeans. "I have a bruise from yesterday, you know."_

"_Good." End of discussion._

_Once the movie had ended, the four stumbled outside into the bright light of the sun. After a dramatic performance by Kurai, who obviously no longer felt pain from neither his bruised side nor his bruising shin, they quickly found a place to eat lunch._

_Which was also promptly ruined by Kurai and maybe Link, causing Sheik to leave, unannounced, dragging Zelda along with him, claiming that they could no long procrastinate on their homework._

_Back at home, Sheik was doing anything _but_ homework, sulking in his room by reading a book while curled up on his bed, refusing to explain to Zelda what his problem was._

_Zelda knocked on the door softly. "Look, I know that you like Link and all, but…" She bit her bottom lip, unsure whether to continue or not._

_Sheik's voice drifted through the door as he finished her statement. "I should just give up?"_

_Zelda leaned her back against the door and remained silent. She didn't want to agree, but she couldn't lie either. Drumming her fingers against the door, she muttered, "Well, Kurai's showing an interest so…"_

_Zelda could hear a faint groan. "Don't even talk about him."_

_The blonde shrugged and merely reasoned, "I mean, it's just that he seems to be putting so much effort into trying to capture your attention, it's hard to ignore it."_

"_Whatever," Sheik grumbled, done talking about whether or not Kurai was actually trying to be sincerely affectionate for once, "You're the one with an overly sensitive relationship radar."_

_Zelda quietly hummed in agreement. She had to admit, she could be overzealous when trying to play the matchmaking game. But, she reasoned with herself, it always worked out, right? Shrugging off the thought that she could possibly pose as being less than helpful, Zelda stood away from the door and asked, "What do you want to eat for dinner?"_

"_Whatever."_

"_You complain if I make something strange."_

"…_Because it's strange."_

"_Just because neither of us can pronounce the name doesn't mean it's strange."_

"_And just because you claim it to be a new dish doesn't mean it's edible," Sheik half-heartedly replied, wondering when they had started arguing about food._

"_Alright, alright. I'll make something normal." Before she left, she softly added, "Cheer up, okay?"_

_Zelda left before she could hear an answer, but that was okay, since Sheik never gave her one._


	15. Acceptance?

Author's Note: I apologize for not updating for the past two weeks unannounced, but I was really busy with school. I might have to start updating this every other week or so, instead of every week, or and I might still not make the deadline that way. I'm sorry!  
Damn it! I'm getting sucked into the fandom of Hetalia, and I haven't finished this fanfiction yet! I'll do my best to finish this, though, before I start anything else. Do I need to up the rating? Hum.  
--NarutoKyuu (Oh, the wonders of the American high school system. I never even properly knew the hierarchy until a few weeks before I started.)

_(__Disclaimer__: I do not own. I never will. __Warnings__: boyxboy, coarse language, and my definition of OOCness)_

* * *

_Sheik restrained himself from impatiently drumming his fingers on his desk as he rested his chin on his other hand and stared at the clock. He was normally studious and listened to every single word his teachers spouted out, but he was in no mood to do so today, and listened with half an ear, wishing for lunch to come, so that the school day would be that much closer to ending._

_As much as he loved his sister, and was really happy for her, his friendlier feelings were washed over with moodier feelings of anger and maybe a little spite._

_As soon as the bell rang, he flipped his notebook closed, hastily stuffed his supplies into his backpack which he flung over his shoulders and, for once, was one of the first people out of the classroom. However, despite his eagerness to flee the confines of the classroom, Sheik was at a loss of where to go. He didn't feel like facing Zelda or Link after quietly shunning them for the better part of the morning, but he didn't feel like getting pounced on by Kurai, who he had been avoiding, either._

_But, it seemed like he wouldn't be escaping the albino senior that day, as he was attacked and nearly knocked down as an arm came around his shoulders._

"_What do you want?"_

_Kurai hummed in thought as they walked down the hallway. "You seemed lonely and lost, so I decided to accompany you."_

"_Thanks," Sheik responded, sarcasm rolling off his tongue._

"_Hey, well, I've got nothing to do anymore, and I could actually go home now if I wanted, but since I'm going out of my way to give you some company, you could be a little more grateful," Kurai teased._

_Sheik let a noncommittal sound escape his throat as he gave in. Just a little._

"_So why aren't you with Zelda and Link?"_

_Sheik gave Kurai a look that clearly meant, "Did you really have to ask that?"_

_Looking offended, Kurai asked, "What?" Kurai hummed and grabbed Sheik's hand when Sheik refused to answer. "So where are we going anyways?"_

_Clenching Kurai's hand in annoyance, Sheik replied, "I don't know."_

_Kurai calmly asked, "Since Link's doting on Zelda, you wanna hang out after school?" while ignoring the sudden pressure around his hand._

"_Some of us still have homework to do," Sheik muttered._

"_You're no fun," Kurai frowned. "What about this weekend?"_

_Did Kurai want to go out with him that badly?_

_Sheik leaned away, wondering when he and Kurai had started closely walking together, and said, "Fine, whatever then."_

_Kurai grinned and quickly gave Sheik a peck on the cheek. "Wonderful."_

_.:~:._

_Sheik sat at the table, nervously doing his homework and giving the clock periodic glances. Some people frantically fretted when nervous, some paced, and some ate; Sheik did homework. Zelda wasn't even around to nag at him to calm down because she had gone out to eat lunch with Link, and as much as Sheik wanted to tag along, he figured he had to give Zelda _some _space._

_So after Sheik had fixed himself lunch, he had realized Kurai had told him that he would drop by some time around three, and upon further realizing that 'three' was not far away, he had settled down to nervously complete some of his homework._

_Sheik glanced at the clock one more time before Kurai loudly made his entrance._

_2:50._

"_Hello! Your parents are still out, and Zelda stole Link a few hours ago, right?"_

_Sheik took a few moments to recollect his wits, (_why_ had his mother given Kurai a key to the house? Oh right, because he was "such a _dear_") before responding, "Yes."_

_There was that grin again. "Great."_

_Trying to discretely close his textbooks, Sheik asked, "What do you want to do?"_

_Kurai shrugged, placing a couple of candied apples on the table in front of Sheik, ignoring the textbooks. "I was just planning on keeping you company. Do you have some movies lying around or something? Just to make up for last weekend," Kurai added lamely, shrugging._

"_What are you getting out of this?" Sheik asked instead._

"_What?"_

"_Why do you bother with me…?"_

"_Didn't I tell you last week?" Kurai asked, pulling out a chair and sitting across from Sheik, giving him a confused look. When he was given no response, he continued, "You're interesting."_

_After a pause, Sheik asked, "So after I'm no longer interesting, you'll just move on?" It was an implied, "So I shouldn't regard this personally?"_

_It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't an absolute lie. "I want to know you better," Kurai replied vaguely._

_Sheik quietly harrumphed and stood from the table to fish out some movies. Taking this as an okay (for now), Kurai grabbed the apples and followed._

_Sheik wasn't sure how it had happened, but after three movies or so, Kurai had decided to create an elaborate dinner for the two of them, since Zelda had yet to return home, and when dinner was half-way finished, Kurai and Sheik had somehow ended up kissing, and things sort of flowed from there. But, even so, there were places where Sheik had to draw the line, and when the food was long forgotten and he was pressed up against the counter in a rather compromising position, Sheik thought that was a good a place as any to draw a rather prominent, bold line._

_When he pushed Kurai off of him, Sheik refused to acknowledge that a part of him regretted the action._

"_Why do you try so hard?" Sheik muttered._

"_Why do you let me?"_

_Lowering his eyes to the tiles, Sheik quietly replied, "You can go now." Before Kurai could respond, Sheik shuffled away to hide in his bedroom. From there, only seconds later he could faintly hear an exchange between Zelda and Kurai as she came back home._

"_Oh, how long have you been here?"_

"_A few hours."_

"…_What'd you do?"_

_Kurai never replied._

_.:~:._

_Weeks later, Sheik found himself in a similar position and, in between trying to push Kurai away and trying to pull him closer against him, Sheik started wondering when he had started falling for the proud, obnoxious albino._

Because he's nice to you_, Sheik's mind chimed in._

_So it was a convenience matter? Sheik couldn't have Link so he took the next best thing?_

_It wasn't exactly that, and Sheik had to admit that Kurai had a certain charm and it was starting to grow on him._

_But…that didn't warrant letting Kurai into his bed, did it?_

_Sheik was almost beyond caring at this point._

_The end of the school year was drawing near, and soon Kurai would be graduating, and perhaps he would disappear from his life altogether. That didn't give Sheik much time to explore his feelings fully, so he decided to give in, and see what happened from there, ignoring the worry and pushing it to the back of his mind._

_Admittedly, even though letting go could have possibly been one of the bigger mistakes of his life, Sheik ultimately thought it was one of the best ways he could have lost his virginity._

_Even after finally finding out about Kurai's actual motives._


End file.
